August 26, 2026
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
Superintendent Tony Watlington says he will not release the School District of Philadelphia's preliminary PSSA and Keystone test results until they are verified by the state.
The School District of Philadelphia will release a plan next week for students seeking to apply for enrollment next fall at criteria-based schools, Superintendent Tony Watlington Sr. said Wednesday. Those applications historically have required students' latest PSAA and Keystone test scores, but Philly students have not yet received their 2025-26 results.
District officials have said those results are being held up by bureaucratic roadblocks at the state level, but the district was given access to preliminary results in June. Unlike other districts, Philly has chosen to keep its preliminary data under wraps until it is verified by the state to ensure test scores are matched to the right students, Watlington Sr. said during a wide-ranging interview with PhillyVoice.
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"In a district where you have a lot of kids moving about because of the transience and poverty levels between district-operated schools and charter schools, I tend to get all of the data and release it when it's verified," Watlington said. "I'm following what the rules say, but I can assure you we have nothing to hide. As soon as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania releases that data, we're going to immediately release it publicly and widely throughout the city."
Watlington listed "accelerating academic performance" as one of his main priorities for the 2026-27 school year, but acknowledged the delays in statewide testing results pose a unique challenge for the district.
In the past, the school selection process, which opens Tuesday, Sept. 8, has required students to submit two years of standardized test scores when applying for enrollment at the district's 37 criteria-based schools. But with students lacking access to their latest scores, the district is still reviewing the best way to handle applications for criteria-based schools, Watlington said.
"We want to do what's in our children's best interest, and we want to safeguard the integrity of our school selection process," he said. "I expect that sometime next week we'll be in a position to share publicly how we intend to handle that issue. …We understand this is front of mind for a lot of people and time is of the essence. So, we won't delay on this."
In lieu of using the 2025-26 assessment scores to apply for criteria-based schools, students may have the option of taking another exam in the fall, the Inquirer reported. Although, nothing has been finalized by the school district.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education typically offers preliminary, school-level data to districts in June, and these results usually are shared with principals and teachers around the same time. Schools use this information to assess student learning, complete classroom rosters and determine which students need extra support.
Preliminary statewide results, which allow schools to evaluate how their students fared in comparison to other schools in Pennsylvania, often are given to districts during the summer. Final results are publicly released in the fall.
The preliminary statewide results were expected to be released Aug. 18, Watlington said. But in a letter to district officials last week, PDE said a "review of the preliminary data is still underway," the Inquirer reported. PDE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Most of the data that the district has received has been kept from principals and teachers. Last week, the district spokespeople told Chalkbeat that the district cannot use the 2025-26 test results to "evaluate year-over-year student achievement or as the required criterion for school selection." The district did not explain the reason for this.
Several charter school leaders have shared preliminary results with their teachers, Chalkbeat reported.
The PSSA testing period last year posed new challenges. It was the first year that tests were administered fully online, and several schools reported system-wide errors that prevented students from starting the exams on time.
"I just want to make sure that we pay attention to it, and that kids aren't negatively impacted by it," Watlington said Wednesday. "Typically, when you move to online testing, you see some decline in other states. So, I would not be surprised if that (happened) here, too."
