The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has introduced statewide Pathways to Graduation — additional high school graduation requirements that will go into effect beginning with the 2022-2023 school year (with the Graduating Class of 2023).
This means that in addition to the 23.5 credits and service learning project previously required to graduate, students graduating from a Pennsylvania high school must now meet additional requirements through one of five pathways designed to illustrate their college, career and community readiness:
- Pathway 1: Keystone Proficiency
- Pathway 2: Keystone Composite
- Pathway 3: Career & Technical Education Concentrator
- Pathway 4: Alternative Assessment
- Pathway 5: Evidence-Based Pathways
The School District of Philadelphia is hyper focused on ensuring that all students and their families are aware of these requirements; and in Spring 2023, the district wanted to ensure that every student understood that they have the opportunity to graduate from The School District of Philadelphia ready for success in college, career and life. Every student has their own unique path for getting there, and no matter your child’s age, it is never too early to know what your child needs to graduate high school, and to start creating a graduation plan.
The district engaged Brownstone to take this message on the road. Over the course of five (5) weeks, Brownstone hosted fifteen (15) community activations across the city in partnership with Brown’s ShopRite, The Fashion District, and DTLR LLC. Our primary audience was current high school seniors and their families; but our secondary and equally important audience is all high school students and their families. Understanding that the best messengers are graduating high school seniors, we engaged three (3) current School District of Philadelphia high school students to serve as ambassadors.
The activations included:
- 3 iPads with online modules for students to identify their pathway to graduation
- Student ambassadors who shared their personal pathway to graduation
- Pathway to Graduation palmcards
- TV screens that ran a :30 Pathway to Graduation promo video on a loop
- Brandediveaways including water bottles, backpacks and tote bags, and selfie lights
The Impact
- 1087 one-on-one interactions with students
- 1496 Pathway to Graduation palm cards distributed to students and parents/guardians
- 802 students who identified their path to graduation using the online tool
