It was said in recent studies Philadelphia ranks 92nd out of the 100 largest U.S. cities in academic attainment. 17.4% of adult Philadelphia PA residents—an estimated 225,000—do not have a high school diploma, compared to 10.5 percent in Pennsylvania at large, and only 28% of Philadelphia PA residents 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or higher.  Literacy challenges faced by Philadelphia's public schools ultimately produces adults with deficiencies in reading, writing and comprehension.

 It is recorded that Philadelphia PA ranks at the bottom among large American cities in reading proficiency;Recent federal data reports, marginally 22 percent of Philadelphia PA residents aged 16 and older lack basic literacy skills. 52% of Philadelphia's adults are functionally illiterate, and 67% are low-literate, reading at a sixth- to eighth-grade level. Almost 40% of adult Philadelphians struggle to fill out a job application, to read doctors’ instructions on their medicines, and to help with their children’s homework.