UDHS Students Fare Better on PSSAs, Slightly Worse on SATs, Report Shows

On Monday, the Upper Dublin School District released a comprehensive report detailing the scores of standardized testing for the 2010-11 school year. Patch dug through the information and is presenting the results of high school level testing here. Reports of scores at the intermediate and elementary levels are to follow.

When asked for comment on the scores, Upper Dublin School Board President Michael Paston took the opportunity to remind the community that there is more to education than test scores.

“In Upper Dublin, we continue to walk that fine line between preparing students to perform well on standardized tests and making sure this does not become the primary focus of our existence,” said Paston. “An excellent education involves much more than PSSA testing, and I hope we continue to find room for creativity and ensuring our students are prepared to be good citizens, spouses and parents, as well as good students and lifelong learners.”

About the PSSA's

The 11th grade is the only grade tested through the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSAs) at the high school level. The UDSD report broke down the PSSA results into math and reading scores, and then reported the percent of students in each of the following proficiency levels over the past 10 years: advanced, proficient, basic and below basic.

The report continually highlighted the combined percent of students that fell into the top two levels as a marker for success in that subject or demographic.

Reading scores up on average, down for IEP students

In the reading portion of the test, the number of students who ranked either advanced or proficient climbed to 87.5 percent in 2011, from 82.3 percent in 2010. This number represents a 10-year high in the subject. Logically, the number of students at the "below basic" level fell from 9.6 to 5.8 percent, and at the "basic" level from 8.1 to 6.6 percent.

Scores up for all ethnicities

The results were also split by ethnicity. Students of Asian background scored near perfectly in the reading portion, jumping from 88 percent at the advanced or proficient levels in 2010, to 100 percent in 2011. Caucasian students increased from 86.3 percent to 89.7, a 10-year high, while African-American students increased their scores from 55.3 percent in the advanced or proficient range to 60 percent.

22.9 percent of African-American students scored in the basic range and 17.1 at below basic. However, the 10-year numbers show African-American students trending positively, as 40.9 percent fell into the below basic category in 2006.

Specialized programs

Students in the Individualized Education (IEP) Program did not fare as well, as the program saw students at the high-end and low-end trend toward the middle of the scoring range. The percent of students scoring at the advanced or proficient levels fell from 35.3 percent in 2010 to 23.3 percent in 2011, an 8-year low. The bulk of the change shifted to the "basic" level, which increased from 11.8 percent to 33.3 percent in 2011, although the below basic level decreased from 52.9 percent to 43.3 percent.

Students in the school's ED program trended positively, with the percent of students in the advanced/proficient categories increasing from 59.4 percent to 67.7 percent, a ten-year high.

Math total scores

The percent of students scoring at the proficient or advanced levels in math remained at a virtual tie, with 78.7 percent achieving those levels, up a tenth of a point from 78.6 percent a year before. The number marks a 10-year-high, but is also only five points higher than the lowest score of 73.6 in 2002. The movement remains stagnant down through the scoring levels, with a 2-point shift of students to the basic level from below basic, at 11.6 and 9.7 percent, respectively.

Math up for Asian and African-American students, down for ED programs

The number of students of Asian descent scoring at the advanced or proficient levels increased to 97.9 percent in 2011, from 94 the previous year. This marks a 10-year high, and is up from 82.5 percent in 2006.

Scores of African-American students slipped slightly, from 42.1 percent in 2010 to 40 percent in 2011. However, the number of African-American students scoring at the below basic level decreased from 44.7 percent, to 37.1 percent. The number is the second lowest in 10 years, but the district continues to struggle to see a steady decrease in the number of African-American students scoring in the lower two categories for math.

Caucasian students remained at nearly the same levels, and although the 81.3 percent scoring at the advanced or proficient level is only .2 percent higher than in 2010, it does represent a 10-year high.

Math in special programs

The most dramatic number in the math portion is a decrease from 57.6 percent, to 38.7 percent, for ED students scoring either advanced or proficient. The district had seen significant gains after falling as low as 5.9 percent in 2007 and 14.3 percent in 2008, but fell nearly 19 percentage points this year. The number of ED students scoring at the basic level increased from 12.1 percent to 38.7 percent, while the number at below basic fell from 30.3 percent to 22.6 percent.

The scoring of IEP students did not see any large-scale shifts, although the percent of students scoring “below basic” fell 11 points, from 64.7 percent to 53.3 percent.

SAT scores slightly decrease

The average score for Upper Dublin students on the SAT exams fell 29 points, from 1710 in 2010, to 1681 in 2011. This average is 108 points higher than the state average of 1573, and 201 points higher than the national average of 1480.

By subject, SAT scores in Upper Dublin fell 15 points in the "critical reading" portion of the exam, from 564 to 549, 13 points in the "writing" portion, from 565 to 552, and by 1 point in the math portion, from 581 to 580.

SAT up for African-American students, down for Caucasian and Asian

Students of Asian and Caucasian ethnicities both saw their SAT scores decrease, while African-American students saw an increase. Asian-American students saw a decrease of 36 points from 1835 to 1799, Caucasian students a decrease of 38 from 1736 to 1698, and African-American an increase of 20 points from 1331 to 1351.

AP test scores remain the same

AP scores remained nearly the same in 2011, with a 91 percent passing rate on tests elected to take, up a single percentage point from 2010. The overall number of tests taken decreased slightly, from 452 to 445. The number of AP tests taken by Caucasian students fell from 310 in 2010 to 268 in 2011, while the number of tests taken by Asian-American students increased from 118 to 140, and number of tests by African-American students increased from 7 to 16.

Honors

The report also touted the 14 National Merit Award Semi-Finalists, and 18 National Merit Commended Students in 2011. Graduates of the class of 2011 are now enrolled at Columbia, Harvard, Howard, Lehigh, Pennsylvania, Stanford and Yale universities, among others.