NEWS INFORMATION FROM |
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THE OFFICE OF MAYOR STEPHEN R. REED |
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NEW STATE TESTING REPORT SHOWS CITY SCHOOLS MAKING SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESSMayor Stephen R. Reed today said the newly-released scores on the Pennsylvania System for Statewide Assessment (PSSA) tests for Harrisburg city schools show continuing improvement that he calls “heartening and indicative of further gains but, without hesitation, there is much more to do.” The Mayor said, “Our 11th graders showed progress, probably ranking among the top gainers in the state between 2004-05 and 2005-06.” He noted that four city schools are now ranked by the state as showing “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) as defined by the federal No Child Left Behind law. “This is an improvement over only one city school receiving AYP ranking last year.” The PSSA raw scores were released by the state Department of Education today. The schools now making adequate yearly progress are Hamilton, Steele, Camp Curtin and Scott. He noted that, in addition, three other schools are now exempt from NCLB sanctions, the Career Technology Academy, Rowland and Ben Franklin. At the high school level, Reed said the 10-point gain in reading and 7-point gain in math registered by students is “a real tribute to the students, their teachers and the school administrators who have performed a remarkable turnaround on what was admittedly a failing program just five years ago.” According to the PSSA scores, Reed said “28 percent of the students in the 11th grade are now performing at a proficient or advanced level.” This is up from 18 percent just a year before. “Of course, this means that a very large number still perform at what the federal government calls the ‘basic level’. The purpose of No Child Left Behind, though, is to commit to continuing improvement until all students achieve a level of basic mastery of the core education subjects like reading and match.” The Mayor said the efforts made at the high school level “can best be appreciated when you look not at the percentages or the averages, but at the actual number of kids who have made real progress in learning.” Reed said, “In 2004-05, a total of seventy-one 11th graders scored at the proficient or advanced level in English; in 2005-06, the total grew to 125 students. In math in the previous year, 32 ranked proficient or advanced in the 11th grade – last year, it more than double that number at 67 students. “These aren’t just numbers, these are kids in our neighborhoods who are now getting ready for graduation and who can realistically think about applying to a good college based on the quality of these scores,” said the Mayor. Reed noted that PSSA scores for Harrisburg kids at the 8th and 5th grade levels remained relatively constant while the 3rd grade scores indicate a slight decline – this is in line with the average scores statewide. “The one thing that people have to keep in mind is that the No Child Left Behind process is one of continuing improvement. Each year, the tests intentionally get a little harder. Each year, the bar is raised higher to be ranked as proficient or advanced,” the Mayor said. “It’s as if Major League Baseball moved the outfield fences out several feet further every year to challenge batters to hit harder. Going up 10 points in English is a real accomplishment. Going from one school to four achieving adequate yearly progress is, too.” The Mayor said the test scores were just one measure used to determine if the school district is meeting the mandate to become a model urban district for the nation. Just as important, our attendance rates are up, our drop out rate has plummeted and our graduation rates are soaring,” Reed said. “We are also in the final stages of a five year long effort to rebuild the entire infrastructure and parents can be confident that their kids are today attending schools that are as good as any in the state.” The Mayor said he and city school Superintendent Gerald Kohn and his staff would be reviewing all of the test scores in coming weeks as part of an on-going planning process. “The scores on the state Education Department website right now are raw scores,” the Mayor said. “There will be corrected scores when the AYP reports come out later this month that may show even more important.” Reed also said that the PSSA tests only cover four grade levels across the state and nation. Two other tests administered by the District cover, in one instance, all students and a second covers the early grades, known as the Development Reading Assessment, or DRA, and Dibble tests respectively. They give a more complete picture of what is happening in every grade, as students move from one grade to the next, and these show even more positive trends in improved scores. |
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