Pine-Richland School District

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Introduction

 

Act 82 of 2012 addresses the evaluation of the effectiveness of professional employees and temporary professional employees serving as classroom teachers and principals. The School Performance Profile academic performance score comprises 15% of each teacher and principal’s evaluation and will be a part of the educator effectiveness system for teachers starting with the 2013-2014 school year and for principals in the 2014-2015 school year.

 

 

 

The Pennsylvania School Performance Profile will be released annually each fall.

 

Intermediate units across the state have been trained by PDE and have provided introductory training to LEAs. PDE will continue to conduct informational sessions around the state as well as offer statewide webinars. Updates will be provided to IUs who will then communicate with their LEAs.

 

The PA School Performance Profile is designed to provide a building level score. No educator specific data or individual performance data are included in the SPP.

 

Yes, charter schools are included in the SPP and receive an academic performance score based upon its configuration.

 

 

Scores are calculated based upon defined weighted data elements. If a school has insufficient data to calculate a representative score, the display area will reflect that circumstance and adjust total points accordingly.

 

Teams of educators, statisticians, and psychometricians analyzed research to identify factors that define high performing schools. Data elements are linked to research related to high achieving schools.

 

The minimum count for the SPP measures is a count of 11. The intent is to represent as many groups as possible. When  calculating at the school level and particularly for subgroups, 40 is a large number. The smaller numerical threshold for schools allows for the inclusion of more subgroup populations in a school; thereby including subgroups that might otherwise not be represented.

This category replaces the various subgroups previously identified for purposes of AYP. With an N count of 11, Historically Under-performing Students are defined as a non-duplicated count of students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged students, and English Language Learners enrolled for a full academic year taking the PSSA/Keystone Exams. If a student is in more than one of the individual groups (e.g., special education and English Language Learner), s/he is only included in the Historically Under-performing Student group one time – a non- duplicated count. This group is not a cohort but rather students currently in the building meeting the definition during the reported year.

 

Closing the Achievement Gap is calculated for each of the PSSA/Keystone Exam subjects (Mathematics/Algebra I, Reading/Literature, Writing, and Science/Biology). The achievement gap is determined by comparing the baseline percent of  students who are proficient or advanced to the goal of 100% proficiency. The benchmark for success is defined as closing one-half of the achievement gap over a six-year period. (See Closing the Achievement Gap handout for more detail.)

 

In calculating Proficient/Advanced related to academic achievement, students must be in school by October 1 and stay in the school through the PSSA/Keystone Exam testing date to be attributed to a school.

 

PVAAS reporting for the Keystone Exams will be provided in September 2013. This reporting will include students who have taken a Keystone related course and the corresponding Keystone Exam in SY12-13. This will NOT include students who are not enrolled in a Keystone course in SY12-13 (Example: taking a Keystone for federal accountability purposes only).

 

The SY12-13 PVAAS reporting of the Keystone Exams will be included in the School Performance Profile (SPP). Each Keystone Exam area is included in that PVAAS subject area for the SPP.

 

There may be some schools that have PVAAS reporting for PSSAs and Keystone Exams in the same subject area (Example: PSSA Math and Keystone Algebra I. They would both be included in that PVAAS Math growth reporting for the SPP.)

Research reveals that reading proficiently by the end of third grade can be a “make-or-break” benchmark in a child’s educational development. Academic success, as defined by high school graduation, can be predicted with reasonable accuracy by knowing a child’s reading skills by the end of third grade.

 

The six-year target will be defined in the baseline year, 2012-2013; as each year progresses, the annual cumulative closure will be calculated. As long as a school is meeting the overall closure, it will be defined as meeting its annual target.

 

Extra credit for students demonstrating advanced performance is designed to recognize schools for their efforts in promoting excellence. Although established proficiency acknowledges satisfactory performance, it is important to recognize advanced levels of academic
achievement.

 

A school can earn up to two additional points (Extra Credit for Advanced Achievement) for AP performance based upon the percent of students earning 3 or higher on at least one AP Exam. This is based upon the number of students in the grade 12 cohort – not the number of tests taken. It does not matter when students take the test. A student scoring 3 or higher on more than one exam is only counted as one student achieving this benchmark.

 

A school will receive a score the year after its first year of operation based upon first year data. While some data elements may not yet be available for that school, the available data elements will be used to create a score.

For most measures, data from the current year reported is used; however, due to availability, previous year data is used for graduation rate, promotion rate, and attendance rate.

 

For the Keystone achievement results in the SPP, keep in mind that Keystone Exam scores are banked, and it is the 11th grade cohort that is used in the calculation of the achievement data.

Some school configurations may not have each data element included within a specific factor area. The calculation of the score is adjusted accordingly; i.e., the calculation only includes the data elements that are possible for a school to earn. While a grade  6-8 school will have academic performance data in math, reading, science, and writing, a grade 6 only school will only have math and reading performance data. The academic score will only reflect those subjects tested in the school. For elements not applicable to a school, the points for each particular element are nulled out so that the total possible points decreases proportionally.

 

Part time CTCs will display Fast facts only because academic instruction occurs in the students’ home schools; thus, the attribution for these students is with the home schools. Full time comprehensive CTCs have Fast Facts and receive an academic performance score.

Parents can use the information on this website to examine the performance of their local district/schools. They can also compare the performance of their school to other schools across the state.

 

While PDE can only report on statewide data currently collected, LEAs are encouraged to use their websites to provide other important facts and considerations which will more fully inform the public of school/district programs and initiatives. Such factors as arts offerings, athletic and other extra-curricular activities, and special programs and courses beyond what the SPP details will present a broader picture of the school.

 

* Compiled from PDE.