Education

They grow ’em smart in Philadelphia. With more than 860 public elementary, middle, and high schools in more than 60 public school districts in the 5-county Greater Philadelphia area—not to mention hundreds more charter, parochial, and private schools—educating kids is a top priority.

Higher education in Philly started before the country itself was formed, with Benjamin Franklin’s founding of the University of Pennsylvania in 1740. Today more than 80 colleges and degree-­granting institutions are located here—27 of them within Philadelphia’s city limits—graduating 50,000-plus students each year. Future leaders come to Philly’s 6 post-­graduate business schools, 5 law schools, and 5 medical schools from all over the world.

But it’s in the early years that education helps shape the mind. With so many hundreds of public schools, it would be impossible to profile individual schools, or even the area’s 80 school districts, in a guidebook—but don’t be overwhelmed, because there are easy resources for researching education in Greater Philadelphia. If your child will be joining the close to 150,000 students already attending Philly’s city schools, your first stop should be the website of the school district of Philadelphia, phila.k12.pa.us. There you will find the policies and programs guiding the system’s 242 public schools, including 163 elementary, 23 middle, and 56 high schools. There are also 84 charter schools.