Empowering Choices: Families Find Their School Fit at the School Fair

The 2024 K-12 Philly School Fair, held on September 27th and 28th at the PA Convention Center, welcomed over 6,000 attendees eager to explore their school selection options for the 2025-26 school year (see the photos below). This year set a new record with more than 200 district, charter, private, and faith-based schools participating, giving families a unique opportunity to engage directly with representatives and make informed decisions for their children’s academic future.

The fair kicked off with a press conference featuring Dr. Stacy Holland, Executive Director of Elevate 215, Dr. Debora Carrera, Chief Education Officer in the Mayor’s Office, Dr. Watlington, Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, and Sarah-Ashley Andrews from the Philadelphia School Board. Together, they emphasized the fair’s primary goal: helping families find the best educational fit for their students.

This year, Elevate 215 made three key improvements to ensure families received the information they need as effectively and efficiently as possible.

• Family-Focused Supports: For the first time, we introduced Ambassadors who offered personalized guidance to families navigating the school selection process, making the fair more impactful. (97.3% of surveyed families said the event was a valuable use of their time.)
• Targeted Enhancements: We organized the K-8 section by geographical region, aligning with how families typically search for schools. Additionally, high schools had a new stage space to showcase their performing arts programs and school spirit, adding an exciting new dimension to the fair.
• Data-Driven Decisions: We focused on gathering and analyzing data throughout the event to better allocate resources and maximize impact, ensuring the fair’s success was as effective as possible.

This year’s K-12 Fair received a tremendous amount of positive feedback from families, in particular, regarding whether they had a valuable and informative experience. For example, Charles Louis, came to the Fair looking for insights on the high school options available for his daughter. 

“Philadelphia has so many different high schools, so we decided to come here and get more of a realistic approach, see if we could talk to people one-on-one and get a better understanding of the process. [My daughter] is excited, she’s in eighth grade, so we wanted to come here to narrow it down. There’s a lot of decisions to be made. All parents, if they have the time, should come down and check [the Fair] out.” 

His daughter, Shara, added, “I am looking into artistic programs and science programs, and I will possibly look into different culinary programs, and programs that give back to the community. There are many resources here and I’m excited to learn more about each school that I visited.” She noted that the schools were able to provide a realistic student experience, rather than focusing on an approach from the school’s staff members. “We get to see different programs and extracurriculars that the students are [enrolled in], so that’s really nice to see.” 

The 2024 K-12 Philly School Fair empowered families with the information they needed to navigate the school selection process and confidently choose the academic journey that will lead their children to success.