Philadelphia Gun Violence Driving Higher Enrollment in Cyber-Charter Schools

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Motivated by fears of increasingly frequent youth gun violence, Philadelphia families are enrolling their children in online charter schools. Nearly 15,000 of 197,000 students have switched to online classes because their parents “see them as a safe and flexible educational option,” according to an October 2024 story by Carly Sitrin published by Chalkbeat and republished by the Hechinger Report.

According to Philadelphia city data, although gun violence has decreased since 2020, so far in 2024, 40 percent of victims were under the age of 18. Five Philadelphia schools are among the top ten in the nation to experience violence near them within this last decade. Cyber schooling is specifically growing among the city’s Black, Brown, and low-income families. Although they might view online schooling options as safer than in-person classes, Sitrin’s report highlights problems with the quality of education students receive and their commitment to learning in online settings.

Her Chalkbeat report cites a journal article by Sarah Cordes, an associate professor and education researcher at Temple University, who found that students enrolled in online charter schools “tend to have worse test scores and higher rates of chronic absenteeism” compared to regular public schools, “even when controlling for differences in student population.” There are about thirteen cyber charter schools operating across Pennsylvania. These schools are publicly funded even though they are independently run. Pennsylvania school districts have sent about $1 billion a year to these charter schools. Many families are turning to these schools due to flexibility and safety concerns, with gun violence being so prevalent. Philadelphia is now the “cyber charter capital of the nation.”

As of November 2024, there has been no corporate news coverage on the thousands of Philadelphia families who are switching to cyber charter schools due to a growing anxiety about their children’s safety at traditional brick-and-mortar schools.  As a result, children are attending schools that are less accountable to the public. Individual local accounts may struggle to fully capture the broader implications of violence in Philadelphia school zones. Together, however, they underscore a critically ignored issue: how the city’s violence is reshaping the educational landscape for many of the city’s residents.

Sources:

Carly Sitrin, “Why Thousands of Philly Families Are Switching to Cyber Charter School,” Chalkbeat, October 1, 2024.

Carly Sitrin, “Why Thousands of Philly Families Are Switching to Cyber Charter School,” Hechinger Report, October 4, 2024.

Student Researchers: Samantha Andrews, Andrew Martineau, and Nicholas Savage  (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Faculty Evaluators: Allison Butler and Tyler Poisson (University of Massachusetts Amherst)