Politics & Government
Saucon Valley School District Assessment Tool to Be Unveiled
Tool allows the district to project how well students will perform on the PSSA test.
At the Saucon Valley School Board meeting Feb. 7, James Deegan, supervisor of assessment and instruction, presented an overview of the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System (PVAAS).
PVAAS is a tool, not a test, used by Pennsylvania school districts to determine students’ achievement and progress in reading, math, writing and science by analyzing Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) data.
According to Deegan this tool allows the district to project how the students will perform on the PSSAs, both individually and as a grade level.
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“This is not a reflection of teacher effectiveness,” Deegan explained.
The tool provides information pertaining to growth—whether or not students are maintaining, declining or accelerating their scores from previous years.
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Deegan said PVAAS helps administrators determine students who are considered to be at-risk (underperforming) and helps the district align the curriculum to meet student needs.
Using scatter plots, Deegan demonstrated that Saucon Valley’s information can be compared with state and intermediate unit scores.
Concerning growth, board members questioned if the small population of the district could impact the scores. Deegan explained that there are too many variables to say for certain if a population increase or decrease could affect the data.
The district has been using this system since 2007, but the information has never been shared with the public.
Deegan said the district had originally planned to unveil Saucon Valley’s information to the public on the district website in early February, however, some errors with the data moved the release date to the end of February or the beginning of March.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) website, the state pays for PVAAS data submission, analyses and Web-based reporting.
The website also explains that school districts can obtain PDE-developed print resources, professional development, training and materials, free of charge.