PSSAs and Pennsbury: Perfect Together

From the BCCT.

PSSA proficiency could become grad requirement
Students would get several chances to raise their PSSA scores.
By MANASEE WAGH

Pennsbury is seriously considering making PSSA math and reading proficiency a graduation requirement.

If passed, the rule would take effect for the current junior class, which will take the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams this spring.

District educators presented a plan of action to the school board about two and a half weeks ago. Board members were generally satisfied with the strategy, which would require students whose scores fall below proficient to undergo further training and testing. Educators would also look at a low-scoring student’s past schoolwork for evidence of aptitude in the weak areas.

“I was very happy with the plan they came up with. It satisfies a need and makes the test count for more than the requirements of the state or the federal government,” said board President Gregory Lucidi.

Board member Richard Johnson suggested one change to the plan.

Instead of allowing school educators to review a student’s studies, it would be more appropriate for a third party that doesn’t work for the district to review the work, he said at the October meeting. Lucidi concurred with Johnson’s opinion.

“It’s another outside check, so we’re not doing our own internal evaluations,” he said.

The third-party service could be provided fairly easily by the Bucks County Intermediate Unit No. 22, said Kevin McHugh, the district’s interim director of curriculum and instruction. No decision on an external evaluator has been finalized, but the graduation requirements team is continuing discussions, he said.

Twelve district educators and administrators, including McHugh, started considering the PSSA as a graduation prerequisite in August 2007 because it’s a way to increase student efforts to perform to their potential, said McHugh.

Since the state measures a school’s academic success using PSSA scores, districts have been looking for a way to motivate students to do well.

“There’s a sense that some 11th-graders don’t take it as seriously as maybe they could, so it’s not really a good measure of their ability,” said McHugh.

The school board is scheduled to vote on the final version of the plan Nov. 20, said Lucidi.

The proposed corrective action plan involves several steps. If a student scores basic or below basic on the 11thgrade PSSA, he or she would have the chance to take a summer remedial PSSA program.

In the fall of senior year, the student would be required to take a remedial nine-week PSSA course, as well as a retake of the exam in October. Because exam results wouldn’t be released until January, however, the student also would have to take a 4Sight assessment exam at end of the course. It’s a staterecommended test similar to the PSSA and provides another opportunity to demonstrate proficiency, said McHugh.

If the student still does not score proficient on either exam, he or she would have to take a comprehensive core assessment course during the spring semester of senior year, in which the student would develop a portfolio of work that demonstrates proficiency.

It would be the last chance to prove proficiency prior to graduation time. This time, low performance would mean no diploma.

“Instead, we’d be talking about summer school and possibly re-admission as a senior,” said McHugh.

Some special education students wouldn’t have to score proficient to graduate. They could graduate by completing their Individual Education Plans, McHugh said.

The district has also made curricular changes to ensure better understanding of core subjects in different grade levels over the last few years, he said, including more individualized reading courses and more math courses.

The changes also incorporate more reading and writing in social studies and science courses, McHugh said.