# Story ideas: data leads for journalists

Twenty-one data-driven reporting leads and sixteen quick prompts on Philadelphia's public, charter, and alternative schools. Each lead pairs a reporting question with the numbers, tables, and charts behind it; the first ten add a reporter's briefing with context, supporting findings, and concrete directions for chasing the story down. These are starting points, not finished stories. Every number comes from official Pennsylvania and School District of Philadelphia records, and follows the rule that a blank is never a zero. Always confirm a figure against the official record before publishing.

Live page: https://psdreportcard.com/stories.html

## Featured investigations (with reporter briefings)

1. Student support: Which Philadelphia schools are furthest from recommended counselor and nurse staffing levels?
2. Money: Why do Philadelphia's highest-spending schools post some of its lowest test scores?
3. Equity: Inside Philadelphia's racially mixed schools, how wide is the Black-white achievement gap?
4. Enrollment: Which neighborhood schools have lost almost all of the children who live in their catchment?
5. Discipline: Are Philadelphia's charter networks suspending students at far higher rates than district schools?
6. Workforce: Are Philadelphia's poorest schools losing teachers fastest?
7. Admissions: How brutal is the competition for seats at Philadelphia's most selective high schools?
8. Outcomes: Which high-poverty schools are posting the strongest academic growth, and what are they doing right?
9. Outcomes: How wide is the college-going gap between Philadelphia's high schools?
10. Attendance: How many Philadelphia students are chronically absent, and where is it worst?

## More data-driven leads

11. Enrollment: Where are Philadelphia's students going as district enrollment slides?
12. Student support: Where is student food insecurity highest, and are meal programs reaching those kids?
13. Equity: Which schools carry Philadelphia's English-learner load, and how are those students doing?
14. Equity: How concentrated is access to advanced coursework across Philadelphia?
15. Admissions: At selective schools, do Black applicants win offers at the same rate as everyone else?
16. Workforce: Are Philadelphia's top-rated teachers concentrated in its most advantaged schools?
17. Outcomes: Which high schools have the fewest 9th-graders on track to graduate?
18. Outcomes: How much college financial aid are Philadelphia seniors leaving on the table?

## Neighborhood leads (census joined to schools)

19. Which schools in Philadelphia's poorest neighborhoods post the strongest academic growth?
20. How closely do a school's test scores track the income of the neighborhood around it?
21. Which schools serve students far poorer, or far better off, than the blocks around them?

## Quick prompts

- Widest single-school Black-white reading gap?
- Most applications per offer?
- Highest per-pupil budget in the city?
- Schools reporting no nurse on staff?
- Biggest one-year enrollment drop?
- Where is chronic absence worst?
- Charter vs. district suspension rates?
- How many schools are almost entirely low-income?
- Highest growth among the lowest-scoring schools?
- Widest student-teacher ratio spread?
- Lowest catchment retention (neighborhood flight)?
- Highest college-going high school?
- Where do the most students drop out?
- Which school suspends the largest share of students?
- Lowest FAFSA completion (aid left unclaimed)?
- How short-staffed is the District right now?