Important news, upcoming events, resources, and useful tools for CASE members and supporters. If you have newsletter submissions and/or any questions, please contact Ellen Ridyard, Director of Collaboration and Partnerships at the Philadelphia Education Fund.

Spring Ecosystem Convening: Reducing Summer Melt

Tuesday, March 24 from 9:30am - 12:00pm

Join for the CASE spring convening at the Community College of Philadelphia's Center for Business & Industry (Conference Room C3-05) to learn, network, and plan to collectively reduce summer melt.

We are pleased to be joined by Katharine Meyer, Fellow in Governance Studies at Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings to speak on the topic of Summer Melt.

Summer Melt Data, Resources & Webinar

Key resources to support the Class of 2026's first-fall college matriculation:

Reduce Summer Melt with Evidence-Based Approaches

College Matriculation Summer Checklist

Join speakers from The Brookings Institution and Dallas Independent School District to learn about best practices for freezing summer melt and what they look like in action. First, hear about what has shifted in summer melt data and the costs and benefits of different interventions. Next, learn how Dallas ISD used data to identify at-risk students, equip advisors with real-time insights, and ultimately increase postsecondary enrollment rates. FREE FOR NCAN MEMBERS!

Summer Melt Webinar Slides

The School District of Philadelphia released a report on summer melt for the classes of 2022, 2023 and 2024 and the CASE On Track to College Graduation Action Team invited authors of the report to join and discuss. Click here for the webinar slides from Summer Melt: What the Philadelphia Data Tell Us presented by Dr. Aja Holden, Executive Director, Office of Postsecondary Readiness and Dr. Motunrayo Olaniyan, Senior Research Associate, both from the District.

NCAN'S FAFSA Completion Tracker Tool

Good news! NCAN is reporting that the nation is on track to meet record high FAFSA completion in 2026. As of January 30, 2026, 40.2% of the high school class of 2026 has completed a FAFSA financial aid application.

"FAFSA completion is highly correlated with college going, making the completion rate an important indicator of how current high school seniors are thinking about college.

Students and families continue to see the value of college,

and are voting with their feet."

PENNSYLVANIA'S RANKING:

• Through the week ending in Jan 30, 2026, PA is currently ranked 20 out of 50 states for FAFSA completion
• An estimated 39.5% of Pennsylvania's class of 2026 high school seniors have submitted a FAFSA
• There have been 59,976 completions in Pennsylvania, a 37.1% increase (16,239) compared to last FAFSA cycle through the same date

SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PHILADELPHIA'S RANKING:

• 40% of SDP high school seniors have completed a FAFSA to date

You can check your school, district and state's progress using the NCAN FAFSA Tracker's Completion Look-Up Table in the tracker's Tableau dashboard. CASE will be sharing estimated citywide completion rates each month this semester.

What's Your Plan? Campaign Resources & Videos

The On-time High School Graduation Action Team partnered with PhillyGoes2College to launch the What's Your Plan? campaign, which aims to ensure that every graduating senior leaves high school with a clear and actionable post-secondary plan.

The WYP Family & Student Companion Guide and accompanying pathway flyers are designed to empower families and students toward successful postsecondary educational outcomes that lead to fulfilling careers. 

ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE!

Students are encouraged to engage in the campaign by posting pics and videos on social about their postsecondary plans using hashtags #WhatsYourPlanPHL and #WYPPhilly and tagging @phillygoes2college_ on Instagram!

Data & Eval Team's Dashboard & Research Tools

Please help CASE's Data & Evaluation Action Team build out their Citywide Dashboard Project by completing this survey about data you collect for your organization. This survey will help shape an accessible, public data platform to promote an understanding of citywide and school-level performance on key metrics. The Dashboard also aims to reduce barriers to data access for colleges, SDP, schools, and partners. We hope to hear from you! 

The Data team is also kicking off their work to build better research and tools that connect students to their outcomes as they enter the workforce. The action team needs help in building the foundation of this research project in each of the three sub-teams: 

• Landscape Scan: Conducting a landscape scan of collaborations around the country that share data across government agencies
• Research and Data Definition: Helping to define clear research questions and data asks relating to students' workforce outcomes
• Outputs: Helping to develop a vision for how our research, data sets, and learnings will be accessible in the future

If you are interested in working on one of these teams this year, please email mhollander@heights.org and nthuestad@heights.org. 

FAFSA Workshop on Tuesday, February 17 at 6:00PM

This free, virtual workshop explains why one's taxes are important to the FAFSA. Experts will explain parts of the FAFSA that require tax information and participants can be connected with free tax prep resources.

SHARE THIS INFORMATION BROADLY WITH STUDENTS & FAMILIES! The Zoom link will be available after registering and in confirmation emails.

PHENND College Success Network Webinar on Feb 25

Wednesday, February 25 from 1:00pm to 2:30pm | Breaking Down Silos, Fostering Collaboration: The Catto Scholars Departmental Badging Project

How many of us who work in higher ed, larger community-based organizations or schools have complained that departmentally speaking, the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing?

Staff at the Catto Scholarship program at the Community College of Philadelphia decided to be proactive about this phenomenon and have created a departmental badging system to help address it. This system includes a series of trainings for members of the institution to learn more about different departments and become subject matter experts to better support CCP students.

Come hear how the idea came to be, initial staff reactions and what has been learned in the process. Bring your questions and your own examples of how your organization has supported better collaboration among programs and departments.

Thursday, March 26 from 3:30 - 7:30 PM at

The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Center

The Philadelphia College Prep Roundtable, in collaboration with The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Center, is pleased to share an early notification about an upcoming city wide college fair. This free event is designed to support Philadelphia students and families as they explore postsecondary pathways. In addition to traditional 2- and 4-year college options, the fair will spotlight programs and careers connected to athletics, health and wellness, and the performing arts. Students and families will also have access to workshops and direct engagement with college representatives and program leaders.

INVITED UNIVERSITIES: TEMPLE UNIVERSITY • LASALLE UNIVERSITY

JEFFERSON • ST. JOE'S • CHESTNUT HILL COLLEGE • DREXEL UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA • COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF PHILADELPHIA

MILLERSVILLE UNIVERSITY • GWYNEDD MERCY UNIVERSITY

CHEYNEY UNIVERSITY • LINCOLN UNIVERSITY • DELAWARE STATE UNIVERSITY

MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY • BOWIE STATE UNIVERSITY

HOWARD UNIVERSITY • COPPIN STATE UNIVERSITY

Appily's College Greenlight Pre-College Programs

Pre-college summer programs allow high school students to explore college life, academic interests, and potential career paths before officially applying or enrolling. These programs often take place on college campuses and offer a chance to participate in college-level courses, hands-on projects, and campus activities, providing an invaluable opportunity to prepare for the future and make informed decisions about next steps.

Be sure to scan through the CASE resources page, featuring relevant content, thoughtfully curated by ecosystem meeting presenters and action team members.

Step Up to College

A guide to the college preparation, application, admissions, and

financial aid processes.

Website & Instagram

Connecting Philadelphians to the resources and programs to help them plan, apply, and pay for college.

Philadelphia residents can attend college for free! The Octavius Catto Scholarship is a city-funded initiative for low-income students at the Community College of Philadelphia.

These individuals and the organizations or institutions they represent are critical to the stewardship of the ecosystem’s common agenda to improve graduation outcomes for all Philadelphia students. Thank you for being part of the leadership efforts for CASE!

Upcoming Action Team Meetings

Mondays | 11am - 12pm

February 23

Mondays | 10am - 11am

February 23

Thursdays | 2pm - 3pm

February 19

Action Team Co-Chairs

Frank Buggey

Program Quality Specialist Philadelphia Youth Network ​

Geneva Sloan

Director of Postsecondary Readiness, School District of Philadelphia ​

Macy Smith

Upward Bound, Associate Director at UPenn

Hillary Kane

Director, PHENND

Janine Wright

K-16 Partnerships Manager PHENND

Brandi Ashley

College Access Program Coordinator, Philadelphia Education Fund ​

Shaquinah Taylor

Founder &

Principal Consultant

Future-Focused Strategies

Our work would not be possible without the generous financial support of our funders.