East Penn Ranks 94th in State For PSSA Scores
Down 12 spots from 2011, East Penn is ranked fifth in region, 94th in state
The East Penn School District ranks 94 among 500 school districts in Pennsylvania, based on its performance on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) Exam, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times.
The Pittsburgh Business Times recently released its 2012 Guide of Western Pennsylvania Schools. The guide lists the school district rankings on the PSSA scores statewide.
The formula for the ranking takes into account three years of PSSA test scores in math, reading, writing and science, according to The Business Journals. Three years of scores are considered, with the current year given the most weight.
According to the rankings, East Penn ranked 82 in 2011, dropping 12 spots in the past year.
Here's how East Penn ranked against other regional school districts:
- Parkland School District- 39 out of 500
- Southern Lehigh School District- 60 out of 500
- Saucon Valley School District- 64 out of 500
- Salisbury School District- 87 out of 500
- Northwestern Lehigh School District- 105 out of 500
- Nazareth Area School District- 114 out of 500
- Wilson Area School District- 128 out of 500
- Pen Argyl Area School District- 207 out of 500
- Whitehall-Coplay School District- 225 out of 500
- Northampton Area School District- 230 out of 500
- Northern Lehigh School District- 299 out of 500
- Easton Area School District- 306 out of 500
- Bangor Area School District- 311 out of 500
- Catasauqua Area School District- 325 out of 500
- Bethlehem Area School District- 370 out of 500
- Allentown School District- 485 out of 500
In the Top 15 school districts category in Pennsylvania, Allegheny County was the number one county with six school districts represented, followed by Chester County with three, Delaware County with two and Montgomery County with two.
For 2012 rankings, Upper St. Clair School District holds on to its first place title for the seventh year in a row, with Tredyffrin-Easttown Township School District dropping to third place and Unionville-Chadds Ford School District taking second place.
Radnor Township School District stays in fourth place, Mount Lebanon, North Allegheny and Hampton school districts came in at Nos. 5, 6 and 7, respectively. Lower Merion and Central Bucks school districts were next, with South Fayette rounding out the top 10.
Mike Waddell
10:11 am on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Looking at the rankings is always fraught with peril because it doesn't show the true numerical distribution of the attained aggregate scores i.e. what is the score range between #1 and #94? Hopefully, there will be a followup article that shows how the 500 schools actually performed so that we have an accurate picture of how the EPSD did relative to other school districts.
careless fills
10:28 am on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
My educated guess is that the distance between #94 and #194 is fewer standard deviations than the distance between #1 and #94.
Kate
1:56 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
This is a waste of time. Schools now spend too much time preparing kids for this one test instead of educating them. The time and effort wasted on these tests are clearly not improving anything. Let's look at statisitc that matter!
Unum e Pluribus
8:48 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
I agree. Teaching critical thinking skills, questioning everything, the ability to separate fact from opinion, and to clearly communicate a rational argument are key skills needed to be a success. Unfortunately, most people will focus on test scores, because, well, they never learned the above. All test scores prove is who can teach to the test best. What statistic would you use?
Mark Spengler
5:56 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
You cannot judge a school district totlly on PSSA scores. However, I think the rank in the top 5th is yet another reason to celebrate East Penn. Very happy to see so many other valley schools scoring high as well. So happy to be able to send my child and eventually all of my children to a successful public school in the Lehigh Valley. A true blessing!
Sheriffchris
7:40 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
The School tax is up yet again, more and more money for Salaries and Benefits and what have you ...and the test scores drop...who is managing this process ????
Kevin Kelly
8:44 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
I didn't see the state's rankings for music, art, social studies, physical education, technology education or creativity or reasoning abilities. Maybe because those weren't tested.