The Philly school district is growing after years of shrinking. Here’s how one school is attracting more students.

When Marla Travis became West Philadelphia High’s principal in the 2018-19 school year, the neighborhood school enrolled just 482 students.

These days, it has 726, so full that it’s currently closed to new enrollments.

West’s 51% enrollment increase over six years is a striking climb. But it reflects a trend shown across most of the Philadelphia School District, which gained students in the 2024-25 school year for the first time in a decade: Philadelphia’s school system now enrolls 117,956 students, 1,841 more than it did in 2023-24.

The district’s student population is up by nearly every measure — in the majority of neighborhoods, in alternative schools, in magnet schools, and, perhaps most remarkably, in neighborhood high schools, which have shrunk and struggled, like others nationally, in the face of a school-choice movement.

The district’s population is still dramatically lower than it was decades ago, before the advent of charter schools: In 1981, for instance, the public school system enrolled 225,000 students.

But that more families are choosing the district these days, despite its status as a struggling, underfunded school system, is notable.

Part of the bounce-back is a post-pandemic effect; the COVID-19 pivot to virtual learning eroded public systems across the country, as families fled to cyber schools and to private schools that were able to offer in-person learning.

But now, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. has said, he believes that “there’s a greater confidence that people believe that children can get a good education, maybe a great education, in the School District of Philadelphia” and not just at “Central or Masterman.”

The school system has posted growth in most academic areas, improving in reading, math, attendance, and other measures. (Overall, though, scores remain low: 34% of district students met state standards in reading as measured by the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment in 2023-24, the last year for which results have been publicly posted, and 21% hit the mark in math.)

Watlington has given his team a directive to focus on dropouts, too. The district must improve, but not by kicking out students who have complex behavioral or academic needs.

The old West Philadelphia High, at 48th and Walnut Streets, was cavernous: It opened in 1911 with more than 5,000 students. The current structure, at 49th and Chestnut Streets, opened in 2011, built to hold about 800.

At its low point, in 2020-21, West’s enrollment hovered in the 300s. Travis remembers another principal “coming into this building, walking around as if he was looking for a new site for his school. I said, ‘Well, this is not going to happen.’”

The neighborhood around West is changing — the old school is now a luxury apartment building whose residents typically do not have school-age children; a large public housing complex whose residents used to feed West was closed, and its occupants are scattered in other areas of the city.

“This area’s all gentrified now, so we said, ‘How can we get more students? We need to do a complete renaissance here at West Philadelphia High School.’ So we started to come up with different programming to make students interested in coming here.”

For years, neighborhood high schools like West were the standard in the city; they didn’t need special programs to attract students because the majority of pupils just enrolled in their nearest high school. Charter schools — first opened in 1997 in Philadelphia, now accounting for one-third of all public school students in the city — and an expansion of magnets and citywide admissions in the district in the early 2000s changed that.

Watlington in 2021 named West one of three “21st Century Schools” in the district, directed to refocus their programming and partner with businesses to prepare students for more in-demand careers. West offers real estate, mortuary science (the only such program in the city), financial literacy, and arts and technology — with mentors and industry experts interacting with students regularly.

West has partnerships with the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University, and soon students will be able to graduate with credentials to sell real estate.

The school surveys its students to find out what they want to study; West now offers an introduction to tattooing class, photographic media, theater and playwriting, cosmetology, and barbering. It will add fashion merchandising next year. It has a “director of culture” whose job is, in part, to center student voices.

“Students take the courses they want,” said Joseph Schwindt, an assistant principal. “They need math and English, but it’s those electives that get them in the building.”

Philadelphia’s students often have complex needs; when Travis, a former school counselor herself, arrived, West had just one counselor. Now, it has four. School administrators are present when students arrive, to do an emotional temperature check, Travis said.

“Every student should have a go-to adult in the building,” she said. “My thing is, the health, safety, and welfare of our children — that’s what they appreciate most. Whatever we can do to get these kids in and get them coming to school, that’s what we’ll do.”

The school offers monthly field trips and emphasizes Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, a program where students are rewarded for things like showing up to school on time and other habits that make West run smoothly; they can cash their points in for items ranging from TVs and snacks to makeup and school swag.

West has an afterschool program, too, operating until 6 p.m., with academics and extracurricular opportunities built in.

West is no different from other district schools in that it’s underfunded, but it finds ways to enhance its offerings through nontraditional channels, said Reuben Mills, another assistant principal.

“We know that all of our needs for the additional programming that we’re adding cannot come from inside the building,” Mills said. “We have to find a way to enhance through external partnerships.”

Travis and her team have also mastered the art of telling West’s story. When eighth graders are making choices about which high schools to attend, West makes road trips, visiting elementary schools with staff and the dance team, marching band, or drum line.

“We sing the praises of West Philadelphia High School,” Travis said. “We’ve got excellent teachers, great students. We’re still trying to build, trying to make the best educational experience available in the city. We want to be able to compete with Girls’ High, Central, SLA.”

Student performance at West is still not where it needs to be — in 2022-23, just 11% of students met state standards in reading. But attendance is improving; so are ninth-grade on-track performance and four-year graduation rates.

“The population is going up,” Schwindt said, “but the success factors are also going up.”

Aasiyah Brown, a West ninth grader, spends 30 minutes on SEPTA each way getting to West from her home in North Philadelphia. It’s a trend at the school — fewer than one-third of West’s students live inside its attendance zone.

“I came here for the real estate program,” said Brown, 15.

Crystal Little, a school counselor, sees plenty of that. She credits Travis and her team with meeting students where they are.

Travis “saw the need for more opportunities for our students, and she found them,” Little said. “It was very deliberate. It’s about equity and access, about removing barriers to learning.”

Lily Lewis, a West senior, said she had heard about West’s reputation before she came to the school, and it wasn’t all positive.

But she has found something different.

“The classes are good, the staff is helpful,” said Lewis, 17. “It’s a good school.”