Most Lancaster County schools outperform state, cite improvement … – LNP | LancasterOnline

Most Lancaster County students outperformed others across Pennsylvania on the 2023 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) and continued a yearslong trend of improvement over pandemic lows.

Columbia Borough and the School District of Lancaster were the only two districts to score lower than the statewide averages across all three tested subjects, English language arts (ELA), math, and science. Eastern Lancaster County, Solanco, and Pequea Valley all scored lower than the statewide averages in either English Language Arts, math or both.

Despite its lower scores, SDL ouptpaced much of the state in student academic growth, measured through the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System (PVAAS). PVAAS compares an individual student’s performance on the state assessments to previous years.

Karen Wynn, SDL’s director of curriculum instruction and assessment, said the district typically looks for a minimum one year worth of academic growth from each student.

“We were really excited that – with the exception of one tested grade and subject – all of our PVAAS scores demonstrated a minimum of a year’s worth of growth with many demonstrating significant evidence that we exceeded a year’s worth of growth,” Wynn said.

Overall, the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced on the PSSAs statewide increased from 54.1% in 2021-22 to 54.5% in 2022-23 in ELA; from 35.7% in 2021-22 to 38.3% in 2022-23 in math; and from 54.4% in 2021-22 to 58.9% in 2022-23 in science.

“This year’s assessment results underscore what we have said before — that with each passing year, participation and achievement will continue to improve,” said state Secretary of Education Khalid N. Mumin in a recent news release. “Pennsylvania’s results are well on their way to returning to pre-pandemic rates and we look forward to helping our students exceed those levels in the years ahead.”

New approaches

Mumin credited the state’s continuing success to “innovative new approaches” like online assessments that are increasing flexibility for educators and learners.

In SDL – where districtwide averages increased from 29, 14, 35 in 2022 to 32, 16 and 41 this year in ELA, math and science respectively – Wynn attributed success to students’ opportunity to put learning into action.

“Whether it be through extended day programs or summer programs, it’s really making connections for students to see why they’re learning what they’re learning and what that translates to in real life,” Wynn said.

Additionally, she said the district has created a mentoring program for its students.

“We all know the values of students having positive role models, students having a champion for them as a learner and as a member of the community,” Wynn said.

More students across Lancaster County and statewide scored advanced or proficient in science compared to the other tested subjects.

“Science is engaging students in the world around them,” said Krista Cox, Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education.

The percent of test-takers who scored proficient or advanced in Penn Manor this year according to PDE data is 72, 55 and 77 in ELA, math and science, respectively. Its districtwide average in ELA was higher than that of any other district in the county.

In Manheim Township the percentages were 71, 62 and 84 in ELA, math and science respectively, according to PDE data. That district was the highest performer in the county for math and science. Performance in science is up from 2021, when 77% of students scored proficient or advanced, but down from 2019 when 94% of students scored proficient or advanced.

“The key is our teachers are very focused on the needs of our students,” said Manheim Township School District Director of Curriculum and Instruction Sharon Schaefer. “We’re able to take what the needs of our students are and they’re growing and they’re delivering the instruction that meets those needs.”

Schaefer said the district believes in continuous improvement and is implementing a multi-tiered system of support that focuses on core instruction and instructional best practices.

“We have a focus on differentiation of instruction and how we’re meeting the needs of all learners in our classrooms,” Schaefer said. “So making sure that if a student is having difficulty, we’re able to meet their needs by putting different scaffolds and supports in place.”

Hempfield Assistant Superintendent Doug Dandridge said the district recently implemented a new math program by Savvas Learning Co. in its curriculum that has brought consistency and increased rigor to all of its grade levels.

“It was a challenge for teachers to work with the students through some of the new materials,” Dandridge said. “That will, over the years, improve… I think our scores will even continue to grow there.”

Math scores have continued to increase for the district and statewide with 76% of Hempfield’s test-takers scoring advanced or proficient in math this year.

ELA performance, however, has not rebounded as strongly following the pandemic, Dandridge said. Though the percent scoring advanced or proficient for ELA is 66% according to PDE data, he said, some grade levels are still slightly behind.

One of the main reasons ELA scores stagnated, Dandridge said, is that the district is in its second year piloting the Savvas “My View My Perspective” and the GreatVines “Wit & Wisdom” programs to replace its current reading and writing workshop model.

The board voted in May to extend the pilot programs for a second year following public pressure not to use Wit & Wisdom as it has been labeled by critics as teaching critical race theory. Critical race theory, an academic approach that describes societal discrepancies in wealth, education and incarceration through the lens of racism, is not taught in any Lancaster County public school, nor is it mentioned in Pennsylvania’s school curriculum, experts and educators say.

“We have a lot of great materials but we don’t have the consistency that we’re really looking for that we got in math,” Dandridge said.

Dandridge said the district was proud to find that it had the highest average building score of all its elementary schools combined in comparison to the averages of the combined elementary schools in all of the 22 districts in the Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13, which includes districts in Lancaster and Lebanon counties.

Building scores are determined by averaging academic achievement particularly in state assessments, growth measured through PVAAS, attendance rate and graduation rate. Hempfield’s highest-scored building, Centerville Elementary School, received an 89.2. The highest score in the state was a 99.6 held by the Downingtown STEM Academy.

“We’ve been very fortunate to have consistent leadership in our elementary buildings for a number of years now,” Dandridge said. “Our staff has really worked hard.”

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‘Single data point’

But, state assessments are not the only measure of success for school districts. And, because data lags months behind the testing date (tests in May and results in November), districts rely on other data, such as internal assessments, to determine areas needing improvement.

“For us, it’s a single data point,” Dandridge said. “It’s a snapshot comparison point across the state of how our students are doing.”

At Ephrata Area, Superintendent Brian Troop said the district doesn’t attribute its achievement on state assessments to new initiatives, but to its Life Ready Graduate Model, an ongoing initiative created in 2017 to prepare students’ knowledge, skills and dispositions beyond traditional content mastery and standardized assessments.

“We really believe students learn things more deeply when they’re asked to apply it,” Troop said.

At Ephrata Area, 59% of the 1,586 students who took the ELA assessment, 42% of 1,596 students who took the math assessment and 72% of the 561 students who took the science assessment scored advanced or proficient, according to the PDE.

Higher scores are an indicator that the district is headed in the right direction, Troop said, but the district doesn’t specifically gear up for state assessments or throw big celebrations in honor of their performance.

“Standardized assessments are just one measure and they’re not the most important predictor for success in life,” Troop said.