For the year 2007-2008, Armstrong School District students experienced success in several areas of the state’s PSSA exam and helped the school district to make Adequate Yearly Progress, district-wide, under the federal No Child Left Behind law. The annual results of these two educational accountability measures are being made public today.

Some Armstrong School District highlights include:

• 75 percent of students in grades three through eleven (district-wide) scored proficient or advanced in math on the state exam.

• 75 percent of students in grades three through eleven (district-wide) scored proficient or advanced in reading on the state exam.

• The district-wide graduation rate increased to 91 percent, up from 87 percent the previous year.

• Among Title I students, there was a significant reduction in the number who scored basic or below basic when compared to the previous year’s PSSA test scores. (The United States Department of Education defines Title I as a program that provides financial assistance to schools with high numbers or high percentages of poor children to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards.)

Armstrong School District made AYP as a school district. However, six individual schools were put on the warning list, and most of these were due to students in subgroups (such as special education) not meeting PSSA proficiency targets.

“It is often difficult for special education students to meet academic proficiency targets,” said Larry Robb, Assistant Superintendent for K-12 Education. “Our challenge continues to be developing instructional strategies to meet the individual needs of struggling students.”

Information on this year’s PSSA and AYP results, including results for the Armstrong School District, can be found within the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Academic Achievement Report for 2007-2008, which is located online at www.paayp.com.

No school is in the “school improvement” category, Superintendent William Kerr said. “The school district has consistently been proactive and has adhered to the philosophy that the district should always be in a state of continuous school improvement,” Kerr said. The school district has adopted a new elementary math series which is being implemented this school year, is restructuring the secondary curriculum, and will continue with professional development activities for teachers and administrators.

In addition, school-based data teams—made up of teachers and principals who review individual student progress on the state exams—as well as central office administrators will study the root causes of why certain subgroups missed proficiency targets, using the areas of curriculum, instruction and local assessments as a guide. The school-based data teams will analyze relevant student data sets, review strengths or concerns identified by the data, and set student achievement improvement goals as part of a formalized action plan.

Increasing student academic growth and improving overall performance is a shared responsibility among educators, parents, and students, Kerr said. “Our highest priority is to create a culture of continuous learning resulting in high-performing schools,” Kerr said.