Superintendent credits staff for improved PSSA scores
CONNELLSVILLE — The revamping of various courses, a thorough examination of data and a more hands-on approach by administrators and teachers were the keys to success for the Connellsville Area School District in attaining state testing targets, according to Dr. Tammy Stern, interim district superintendent.
The district recently learned that eight schools achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in the 2011 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) testing.
Of the 176 targets, the district met 167, or 95 percent of the benchmarks.
In addition to the senior high school, Bullskin Township, C.N. Pritts, Connellsville Township, Springfield Township and South Side elementary schools achieved AYP, said Stern.
Junior High East and Junior High West were credited with meeting the state targets and listed as “making progress” in corrective action.
“A school identified as making progress is one that was previously in either School Improvement or corrective action but has made AYP for one year,” said Stern. “If the school fulfills its AYP for a second year, it will exit the improvement system and will be counted among schools meeting AYP targets.”
Dunbar Borough Elementary School was listed in the “warning” category after the economically disadvantaged subgroup fell short of meeting one target. Zachariah Connell Elementary School and Connellsville Area Career and Technical School remain in Corrective Action 1 while Dunbar Township Elementary School remains in Corrective Action II after certain subgroups did not meet AYP standards.
While some schools are struggling, Stern attributes the overall improvement to the willingness of the staff to continually improve teaching methods to meet student needs.
Stern said that district principals and leadership teams are more proactive in analyzing scores from previous and ongoing testing, enabling them to make learning adjustments for the students.
“Oftentimes we would benchmark test students, but then never really review the data or make sense of it and what it would convey in terms of student understanding or how we addressed student weaknesses with specific concepts,” she said.
Now, leadership teams meet regularly to review data and make decisions based on those scores and teachers have worked to revise reading, English, science and math curricula to incorporate test anchors.
Principals, too, are more involved in classroom instruction to ensure the curricula are relayed to the students.
“We have numerous programs in place to help address the needs of the student, but there really is no substitute for good teaching,” said Stern.
Testing for the current school year will begin in March and continue through April at various times for the different grade levels.
“Our goals for this year would be to continue doing what is being done in our buildings,” said Stern.