Sdl Makes Gains On Pssas ; Eight Schools Hit Mark; 13 Fall Short

By Brian Wallace

More School District of Lancaster schools met or exceeded state academic standards on the PSSA this year than in 2007, despite those standards becoming more stringent in 2008.

Eight SDL elementary schools – two more than in 2007 – made adequate yearly progress, the key academic benchmark of the tests, in 2008, according to preliminary test results released this week.

Four elementary schools that failed to make AYP last year – Price, Ross, Buchanan and Wickersham – made the standard in 2008.

Burrowes Elementary also made the cut, along with Carter & MacRae, Lafayette and Martin elementary schools.

Two elementary schools that made AYP in 2007 – Wharton and Fulton – fell short in math or reading and didn’t make the benchmark under the new higher standards.

To make AYP in 2008, 63 percent of a school’s pupils had to score proficient or advanced on the reading portion of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessments test, and 56 percent had to score proficient or advanced on the math test.

The cutoffs previously were 54 percent for reading and 45 percent for math.

Pat Schreibeis, SDL director of curriculum and instruction, said the district’s efforts to provide more academic supports for special- education students and English-language learners are paying off in higher scores.

SDL needs to continue focusing on those subgroups of students and improve its middle and high school curricula, she said.

For the second year in a row, no SDL middle or high school made AYP. Overall, 13 schools failed to make the cut.

In addition to Fulton and Wharton, Hamilton, King and Washington elementary schools failed to make AYP, as did Buehrle Alternative School and Phoenix Academy.

Price Elementary School was able to make AYP for the first time since 2005 through the efforts of its staff, students and parents, principal Pam Kiskaddon said.

To boost student achievement, the school added extended reading periods and tutoring programs during and after school hours, and offered workshops to help parents develop their children’s math and reading skills at home, Kiskaddon said.

Teachers also improved their classroom instruction through professional development, she said.

I think we’re really finally starting to click here at Price, Kiskaddon said. I’m very proud of my students and staff for making it happen.

Because the PSSA results are preliminary, Schreibeis declined to release numbers for each school.

Districtwide, SDL students’ math and reading scores improved from 2007 to 2008, she said.

The scores have been steadily increasing since 1998, Schreibeis said, when only 26 percent of students met or exceeded the academic standard in reading and 22 percent met the standard in math.

Today, nearly 50 percent of all district students meet or exceed the reading standard, and more than 50 percent meet the math standard, she said.

Despite the increases, SDL traditionally has the lowest PSSA scores in Lancaster County and lags well behind the statewide average of nearly 70 percent of students proficient or advanced in both subjects.

The state uses PSSA results to gauge whether districts are complying with the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Schools that fail to make AYP in successive years must provide tutoring and offer student transfers to other district schools.

If student achievement still does not improve, schools face additional sanctions or state oversight.

In the coming weeks, SDL officials will analyze the PSSA figures and begin working on academic improvement plans to be implemented at every school – whether it made AYP or not – in 2008-09.

E-mail: bwallace@lnpnews.com

(c) 2008 Intelligencer Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.