School District Changes Performance Standards For PSSA Testing

The Haverford School District announced a change in performance standards for Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) testing during Thursday night's school board meeting. The change will start with juniors taking the PSSA tests next month.

Beginning with the March PSSA testing, any junior who does not score at least Proficient or Advanced in the reading and math section of the PSSA’s will be required to take a nine-week supplemental reading and/or math course in their senior year. These requirements do not extend to the other sections of the PSSA such as science and writing because Pennsylvania only uses math and reading tests to calculate Adequate Yearly Progress(AYP).

The plan, presented by Nick Rotoli, assistant superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Secondary Schools says, “Our 11th grade PSSA results are not at the levels we would expect. We believe this is due to a lack of personal incentive and personal motivation to do well on the PSSA.”

He also states that most other local and state school districts already require similar PSSA test standards.

Once these students pass the supplemental course, they will be reassessed using a test developed by the district but modeled after the PSSA.

“We are not changing graduation requirements, but we will require the students to take the course, pass the end of course reading and math literacy assessment, or participate in additional tutoring if they do not,” Rotoli said. The money to tutor the students will come out of the Accountability Block Grant Funds.

Students and parents will be officially notified next Tuesday of the changes. The students will have an assembly and a letter will be sent home to parents explaining the change in the standards.

High school principal Jeffrey Nesbitt and middle school principal Carol Restifo attended the meeting and are in support of the change, as are other school district teachers who attended.

Restifo addressed the board saying, “students don’t understand how important it is to do well and we should have an incentive program for them to do well on the PSSA.”

Students in the eighth grade taking the PSSA’s and score at a Basic and Below Basic level are assigned to a reading lab class at the high school, which they may take for freshman, sophomore and junior year until they take the PSSA’s again.

Sarah Chaga teaches 10th and 11th grade English and is a 2004 graduate of Haverford High School. She says that requiring the change in performance standards will motivate students to “put their best foot forward” when taking the tests.

Lauren Hopkins, an 11th grade English and American Studies teacher, says the changes are a “good idea” and will help motivate the students to take the testing seriously.

Fred Brown, math coach for the school district, says “our students have the skills to do well on the PSSA’s” but many do not take the testing seriously and changing the performance standard “will help them do better.”

Margaret Huang, student representative on the school board, said “Students would most likely feel that the new requirements were punitive” and suggested a summer course instead of students taking the supplemental course in their senior year. Rotoli said he would take the suggestion under advisement.

Superintendent William Keilbaugh and School Board President Denis Gray say the change “was an administrative decision and therefore not subject to board approval.”  However, no board member present at the meeting objected to the plan as presented.