Statewide public school test results visible online
Share with others:
For the first time in Pennsylvania, the public now can see not only how public schools and districts statewide fared on state tests but also whether their students moved ahead or fell behind in reading and math.
As required by a new state law, the state Department of Education last week posted on the Internet statewide results of the Pennsylvania Value Added Assessment System, known as PVAAS. The results can be found at pvaas.sas.com.
This system tries to look at how much student performance grew during a school year, not just at whether students were proficient on state tests.
In some schools, students may score below proficient on state tests, but they may be showing at least a year's growth in performance. Thus, they are progressing at least as much as expected.
On the other hand, there may be schools where many students score at least proficient, but they are growing less than a year each year and may fall behind.
Kristen Lewald, PVAAS statewide project director for the state Department of Education, said neither growth nor achievement results alone provide a complete picture.
Achievement results are available at paayp.emetric.net.
Some districts, including Pittsburgh, already have made their PVAAS results available.
Ms. Lewald said the results can lead to better questions, but the hard question is figuring exactly why a school is doing well -- or what isn't working.
The simplest way to look at results is to look at the colors.
In grades 4-8, green stands for schools or districts that are "effective in supporting students to achieve one year's worth of academic growth in a year."
There is a yellow category for caution, a rose one for concern and a red one for strong concern, showing "significant evidence" the school was not effective in supporting students to make a year's worth of growth.
The ratings for grades 4-8 -- available for 2010 as well as a three-year average -- were made using scores from the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests which are given in all five of those grades as well as grades 3 and 11. The analysis compares the results to a state growth standard.
First Published February 28, 2011 12:00 am
