PA School Performance Profile: Lower Merion High School

LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Education released its 2016-2017 School Performance Profile scores recently, and Lower Merion High School's score is one to be excited about.

According to the SPP data provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Lower Merion High School's score increased from last year's SPP score.

The score went up, albeit slightly, from 2015-2016's 82.7 to 87.2 in 2016-2017, despite some of its individual scores decreasing.

LM's scores in math, English language arts, and science and biology came in at 81.07, 90.17, and 90.75, respectively. In the 2015-2016 profile, LM scored 90.7, 92.71, and 91.08 in those same categories.

The school saw a slight drop in graduation rates, the data shows. Lower Merion's rates went from 98.65 in 2015-2016 t0 97.26 in 2016-2017.

You can see Lower Merion High School's full SPP report here.

Lower Merion's sister school Harriton High School saw a slight drop in its 2016-2017 SPP score. See Harriton High School's report here.

The assessment, done each year, gives each school a score of up to 100 using several factors, including test scores, student improvement from the past year, as well as graduation rates.

Points earned for each data element are calculated by multiplying the performance measure by the factor value. All earned points are then added to determine the total number of points. That total is then divided by the total number of possible points for the school's calculated score. Additional credit is given for advanced achievement to determine a final score.

Officials say the School Performance Profile is just one indicator of how schools are supporting student learning.

SPPs not only just grades schools, it provides information for various purposes such as:

• Provides a building level academic score for educators as part of the Educator Effectiveness System;
• provides information used in determining federal accountability status for Title I schools;
• informs the public of the academic performance measures of each school, comprehensive career and technical center, cyber charter and charter school in Pennsylvania;
• and provides resources to support schools as they seek to improve academic performance.

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