How did your district score?
Student performance by grade level
Lancaster County's 16 public school districts made little improvement on the state assessment test, according to results released today by the state Department of Education.
In math, 10 districts improved, but by less than 10 points; five stayed flat compared to the year before; one dropped.
In reading, 12 districts saw their scores rise, but by no more than five points; one district remained flat; three districts saw their scores drop.
On the writing section, the numbers of students who scored proficient or advanced dropped in 13 school districts, two improved and one remained flat.
Lampeter-Strasburg had the top scores in the county in both reading and math.
"That's the reflection of a lot of hard work by a lot of people," L-S Superintendent Robert Frick said.
How did your district score?
Overall, the top three scoring districts in reading and math were L-S, Manheim Township and Hempfield.
In writing, the top three scoring districts were Penn Manor, L-S and Township.
Hempfield Superintendent Brenda Becker praised teachers and staff for the district's high ranking.
"Our overall good scores are a real credit to our teachers and support staff, who work directly with our students," Becker said.
Columbia made the most improvement in math, eight percentage points.
Manheim Central was the only one to lose ground in math, but did so by only one percentage point.
Cocalico made the greatest strides in reading, gaining five percentage points from its 2006-07 scores.
Manheim Central lost two percentage points in reading.
Columbia also made the most improvement in writing, four percentage points.
Pequea Valley's districtwide writing scores dropped the most, 11 percentage points.
Check out student performance by grade level (PDF)The School District of Lancaster had the lowest scores among the county's school districts. Only a little more than half of its students are proficient in math and less than half are in reading and writing.
But the district improved in the two main subject areas from 2006-07, gaining two percentage points in math and three in reading. In writing, however, the district dropped by six percentage points.
They are making strides, director of curriculum and instruction Pat Schreibeis said.
"The percentage of students in the district who met PSSA standards in each of the last three years is higher than it has been in any of the previous eight years in both reading and in mathematics," she said.
In 2007-08, students in grades three through eight, and grade 11 took the math and reading tests.
Students in grades five, eight and 11 took the writing test.
The federal No Child Left Behind legislation requires that by 2014 schools have 100 percent of their students achieving proficiency.
Scores in math and reading are the only ones that factor into whether a school has reached what educators call adequate yearly progress, the annual advanced/proficiency target set by the state.
The 2007-08 benchmarks were 63 percent in reading and 56 percent in math. They stay at these rates until 2011, when they climb to 72 percent and 67 percent, respectively.
Schools are not judged by their writing scores or science scores. The latter test was given for the first time to students in grades 4, 8 and 11, but the state will not release 2007-08 science results until later this fall.
But test scores play only one part in determining success.
Districts and each of their schools also must have at least an 80 percent graduation rate, 90 percent school attendance rate and 95 percent test participation rate.
Solanco School District made adequate yearly progress in all seven of its schools, according to the 2007-08 results.
"We are very pleased with Solanco's results...," district spokesman Keith Kaufman said.
Schools that miss state targets face such consequences as creating school improvement plans, offering tutoring and/or school choice.
The state Department of Education also released the complete AYP rankings for the county's 16 public school districts today.
Results are at
www.paayp.com.
(Staff writer Tom Murse contributed to this report).
Staff writer Robyn Meadows can be reached at rmeadows@LNPnews.com or 481-6025.
(664)
