Emmaus High Tops Academic Performance Index of Lehigh County High Schools

Emmaus High School topped the 2012-2013 overall academic performance rankings for high schools in Lehigh County, according to a summary of data released Wednesday by the PA Department of Education.

According to the data posted online, EHS achieved an academic performance score of 92.5.

The top-performing high school in Northampton County, was Saucon Valley High School, which scored 94.7, according to the online data.

According to the Department of Education, "the score for a school is based upon indicators that define a high performing school. Many data elements come together to create the academic score," including the following five categories (the first three categories represent 50 percent of the school's academic performance score):

• Indicators of Academic Achievement - Include PSSA/Keystone performance, industry standards-based competency assessments, grade three reading proficiency and SAT/ACT college ready benchmarks.
• Indicators of Closing the Achievement Gap - All student scores are used to define how well a school is making progress toward proficiency of all students.
• Indicators of Closing the Achievement Gap - Historically Underperforming Students’ scores are used to define how well a school is making progress toward proficiency. The high needs students are students who have historically not demonstrated proficiency.

This category represents 40 percent of the school academic performance score:

• Indicators of Academic Growth/PVAAS - Measures the school’s impact on the academic progress of groups of students from year-to-year.

This category represents 10 percent of the school academic performance score:

• Other Academic Indicators - Assesses factors that contribute to student achievement (e.g., graduation rate, promotion rate, attendance rate).