Area school districts receive performance scores
The results of the 2013-14 Pennsylvania School Performance Profiles are in, and overall, scores did not change significantly from last year.
According to data provided by the state Department of Education, 72 percent of public schools across the state scored 70 or higher on the state’s new method of measuring academic growth.
That’s about half a percentage point lower than in 2012-13.
A score of 70 out of 100 is considered the minimum acceptable by the Department of Education.
In Washington County, nine of the its 14 school districts had all of their schools reach or exceed the 70-point mark. They were: Avella, Bentworth, Bethlehem-Center, California Area, Canon-McMillan, Chartiers-Houston, McGuffey, Peters Township and Trinity Area.
In Greene County, only one of the its five school districts, Central Greene, had all of its schools meet the 70-point figure.
Washington School District in Washington County and Carmichaels Area School District in Greene County failed to have any schools reach the 70-point benchmark. One bright spot was Washington Park Elementary School, which scored 69.8, after scoring 59.6 last year, putting it among the higher increases in the county.
“The scores definitely could be better,” said Carmichaels Superintendent John Menhart. “We’ve been meeting since this summer, and we’ve tried to put some initiatives in place. We’re examining our reading program in the elementary, and we’ve put emphasis on the primary reading program. We have some holes in that program, and our administration has gone a long way to remedy that program.”
Menhart said the school district is providing additional time for reading and math in the junior high school and is working on staff development. The district, he said, has many young teachers.
“We’re close (to meeting a score of 70) in the secondary level. You have to do this in steps, and we think we’ve identified some major problems and we’re working to improve them,” said Menhart.
The assessment system replaces the Adequate Yearly Progress goals required by the federal No Child Left Behind law.
Last year’s School Performance Profile was compiled using data from the 2012-13 school year and serves as a starting point against which each successive year’s performance will be compared to measure academic growth.
Results for each public school in Pennsylvania are available at paschoolperformance.org. The profiles cover 2,947 public schools, including charter schools.
The top-scoring school in Washington County was Peters Township High at 99.3, 3.2 points higher than last year. Four of the five schools in Peters Township School District earned scores above 94.6. McMurray Elementary School earned a score of 83.5.
“I’m super proud of our students and our staff,” said Dr. Jeannine French, superintendent of Peters Township School District. “I think when we started the year off, our focus was not on any new initiatives, it was focusing on people, doing the things that we do, but doing it better. The challenge we set before ourselves is being better tomorrow than we were today. It seems to be paying off.”
Six out of seven elementary schools in Canon-McMillan and all four Trinity elementary schools scored 80 or more. Cecil Elementary School in Canon-McMillan jumped more than 13 points, from 77.6 points in 2012-13 to 90.8 points this year.
Trinity Middle School raised its score 3 points, to 77.2, and the high school increased from 80.5 last year to 84.0 this year. Five of Trinity’s six schools scored higher than last year, while Trinity East dropped more than 10 points, from 92.6 to 82.6.
“We’re proud of the accomplishments of our students and teachers,” said Dr. Michael Lucas, superintendent of Trinity Area School District. “These performance profiles represent the whole picture and show that our kids are growing academically. As we try to restore Trinity pride, this is a great first step.”
Avella Junior-Senior High School exceeded the state requirement this year, scoring 77.4, after failing to reach the benchmark last year.
West Greene High School scored 59.7, the lowest score among all schools in the two counties, The district’s highest scoring school was Graysville Elementary School, at 79.1, which was the only school that met the state’s benchmark.
Pennsylvania public schools scored an average of 76.9.
In a news release, acting state Education Secretary Carolyn Dumaresq said, “These results show that, compared to 2012-13, the majority of our public schools are performing well even though the state has recently revised its academic standards and is transitioning to more rigorous assessments.”
The School Performance Profile scoring system is based on a 100-point system, and each individual school receives a rating. Schools may also earn extra points beyond the 100 points for students who have earned advanced scores on state, industry and Advanced Placement exams.
Test scores, progress in closing the achievement gap and degree of student growth throughout the school year are factored into the scoring. Also considered in the calculation are other identifiers of high-achieving schools, including graduation, promotion, attendance rates and offering of rigorous courses.