POTTSTOWN PA – Pottsgrove School District students generally improved overall, and the percentage demonstrating advanced proficiency in math and reading skills climbed higher, in results from 2009-2010 school year benchmark tests administered under the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), the state Department of Education reported last week (Sept. 14, 2010).

Pottsgrove also received a passing grade on the federal level, by achieving its goal of making district-wide adequate yearly progress (AYP) under the “No Child Left Behind” Act.

But while the district’s three elementary schools and middle school also individually met AYP standards, the high school did not. Its results were marred by what was deemed as insufficient academic performance in reading among “economically disadvantaged” learners.

The Pottsgrove totals were among those for all districts in the state, announced with fanfare by Gov. Ed Rendell. He claimed that, statewide, “student achievement has increased in every subject, at all tested grade levels, and for all ethnic, racial and economic subgroups of students since 2002.” Overall, Rendell added, three quarters of Pennsylvania students are now achieving at grade level, and the smallest percentage of students ever scored at the lowest level since PSSA testing began.

• Read a related story, “Contest! Are You As Smart As A Pottsgrove Junior?, here.
• Download a spreadsheet with 2010 district-by-district PSSA results in math and reading from across the state, here.
• Download the same information as an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) document, here.

Pottsgrove PSSA results show the percentage of all students who are performing at basic or better proficiency in math rose slightly, from 87.9 percent during 2009 to 89.4 percent during 2010. Basic or better proficiency among all students in reading rose too, from 87.3 percent during 2009 to 87.8 percent during 2010.

The district’s greatest PSSA score improvements were among all students with advanced proficiency. Those numbers in math jumped from 43.5 percent during 2009 to 50.1 percent during 2010; and in reading from 31.3 percent during 2009 to 35.4 percent during 2010.

The percentages of all district students who fell below PSSA-tested basic proficiency in those subjects showed corresponding decreases. Below-basic learners in math declined from 12.0 percent during 2009 to 10.6 percent during 2010; and in reading from 12.7 percent during 2009 to 12.2 percent during 2010.

Also, among all economically disadvantaged students, reading-specific scores for basic or better proficiency improved slightly from 77.1 percent during 2009 to 77.3 percent during 2010. High school-specific scores were not immediately available from the state, but its AYP report card indicated the same group’s reading results at Pottsgrove High “did not meet measure.”

Related (regarding PSSA results in 2009 and 2008):

• State Says Pottsgrove Schools Make ‘Adequate Yearly Progress’
• Pottsgrove Teachers Review District Accountability Plan
• School Board Criticizes Lack of Students’ Improvement
• Notebook Worthy For March 23, 2009
• Pottsgrove Tops Many In Science, But …

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