Independence Charter School West

Independence Charter School West is a public charter elementary school serving 831 students in grades K-8 in Philadelphia, PA. The school is part of the Independence Charter School West district, which is ranked 531 out of 606 districts in Pennsylvania and has a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Despite its large size, Independence Charter School West consistently ranks in the bottom 10-15% of Pennsylvania elementary schools, with academic performance significantly below the state averages across all grade levels and subjects. For example, in 2024-2025, only 11.1% of students were proficient or better in PSSA Math, compared to the state average of 41.7%. The school's performance is particularly low for certain student subgroups, such as male students, low socioeconomic status students, and disabled students, who rank in the bottom 10-20% of their respective peer groups. Additionally, the school has had relatively high dropout rates in recent years, ranging from 0% to 1.6%, which is higher than the state average.

Interestingly, the nearby schools, such as Comegys Benjamin B School, Harrington Avery D School, and Mastery Cs-Harrity Campus, generally perform better than Independence Charter School West across various metrics, including academic performance, dropout rates, and student-teacher ratios. For example, Mastery Cs-Harrity Campus, a public charter school within 1 mile of Independence Charter School West, outperforms the subject in both math and English language arts proficiency by a significant margin. The significant fluctuations in spending per student and the increasing student-teacher ratio at Independence Charter School West suggest that the school may be facing resource and staffing challenges that could be impacting its ability to provide a high-quality education.