Summary
School of the Future is a public magnet high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, serving 560 students in grades 9-12. The school is part of the Philadelphia City School District, which is ranked 473 out of 606 districts in the state and has a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger.
Despite its magnet school status, School of the Future consistently ranks in the bottom 10-15% of Pennsylvania high schools, with poor performance on Keystone Exams in Algebra I, Biology, and Literature. The school's four-year graduation rate has ranged from 71.9% to 87.9% in recent years, lower than state and district averages, and its dropout rate has been as high as 5.5%. The school serves a high percentage of low-socioeconomic status students, with 100% qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.
Interestingly, some nearby magnet schools, such as Parkway West and Robeson High School for Human Services, perform better academically, suggesting the magnet school model can be effective in this area. However, other nearby schools, like Vaux HS: A Big Picture School, The Workshop School, and Overbrook High School, also struggle with poor academic performance and similar student demographics. Despite the high spending per student at School of the Future, ranging from $14,874 to $21,833 per year, the school's small class sizes suggest that factors beyond funding and class size, such as curriculum, instruction, and school culture, may be more influential in driving the school's academic outcomes.
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