By Gina Morton
DANVILLE — The Danville Area School District’s results on Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests are above state averages and continue to rise each year in the various grade levels.
Dawn Brookhart, director of technology and curriculum, recently reviewed the district’s PSSA trends over the past few years with the school board.
Students in third through eighth grades and those in 11th grade — those who take the PSSA tests — showed above-average percentages in math, reading, science and writing, Brookhart said.
A problem area, however, is science.
“It’s an area of concern across the state,” Brookhart said.
Fourth-graders don’t spend as much time as juniors on science yet excelled in the subject — with a district average of 92.1 percent proficiency against a state average of 83.4 percent. The 11th-graders saw much lower levels.
Brookhart said the junior class had a district average of 44 percent proficiency against a state average of 39.7 percent.
“This is still a new assessment to the state and us,” she said. “There was not a lot of information in terms of how it would be designed.”
Averages for reading and writing were all above-average for grades five, eight and 11.
Brookhart presented trends that have been established for the various grade levels.
Current fifth-, seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders showed continuous rising levels in both reading and math, she said. Scores from current sixth-graders dropped slightly in math but have risen in reading.
A school board member asked Brookhart what constituted a significant change in the longitudinal range, or trend.
“Five percent is significant,” she said, noting that it’s something that needs to be watched. “If it continues to drop, then we have a problem.”
Using the PSSA results, the district has implemented goals that include improving student achievement, engaging the community, creating positive climates for the students and celebrating success.
PSSA tests last year were spread out between February and April, Brookhart said. This year, the majority will take place in April.
