The top reported proficiency rate is 32% in Science. The lowest is 14% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Kelley William D Sch
Kelley William D School is a small PreK through 8th-grade public school in the North Philadelphia neighborhood, serving roughly an enrollment made up almost entirely of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly Black, with smaller populations of Hispanic students and very few students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds.
The school's academic performance, measured by state testing in grades 3 through 8, shows areas of substantial need. In the most recent math assessment, roughly one in eight students scored at proficiency. In English language arts, the proficiency rate was about one in five students. Science results from 2022-23 showed roughly one in three students proficient. These numbers place the school well below where most families would want their children's learning trajectory to be, and parents may want to discuss directly with school leadership what instructional supports, intervention programs, and learning pathways are in place to help students catch up and move toward grade-level competency.
Data on the school's special education enrollment, English learner population, chronic absenteeism rates, and discipline practices was not available, so a fuller picture of how the school supports different learner populations and addresses attendance and behavioral needs cannot be drawn here.
Philadelphia itself is a historic, walkable city organized around strong neighborhoods, with a dense downtown (Center City) and residential rowhouse areas scattered across dozens of distinct communities. The school's immediate neighborhood is part of North Philadelphia, historically a center of African American community life. Housing in the school's ZIP code is relatively affordable compared to other parts of the city and to national benchmarks, though rents have been rising. The broader city is currently experiencing modest growth concentrated in downtown and higher-income areas, while many residential neighborhoods, including North Philadelphia, face different economic pressures.
The Philadelphia City School District has recently adopted new standardized curricula districtwide: Illustrative Mathematics for K-12 beginning in 2023-24, and a science-of-reading approach to English language arts (EL Education for K-8, StudySync for grades 9-12) starting in 2024-25. This means instruction at Kelley William D follows the same core instructional framework as every other Philadelphia public school, though the school's own proficiency rates suggest implementation and student mastery remain significant challenges. The district also launched a major facilities modernization and consolidation plan in 2026 that will reshape school catchments and close or merge seventeen schools over the next decade, so families should verify the school's status and any potential changes to assignments or building use as that plan rolls out.
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