Untiring efforts by Altoona Area School District teachers and administrators to aggressively address the requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal legislation are paying dividends.

The 2009 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) results clearly indicate the school district is MAKING PROGRESS in reaching its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targets.

The PSSA was administered to all students in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 11 during the 2008-2009 school year. The current AYP target in mathematics requires 56 percent of students to be proficient. The reading AYP target is 63 percent.

Here are the highlights of school district test results.

• Students in grades 3-5 achieved 19 of 20 targets. Some 77.3 percent of all students were proficient or advanced in mathematics and 69.9 percent were proficient or advanced in reading.
• In grades 6-8, some 72.7 percent were proficient or advanced in mathematics and 68.1 percent were proficient or advanced in reading. Nineteen of 20 targets were met.
• Results from grades 9-12 revealed that students achieved 15 of the required 16 targets.  Some 65.4 percent were proficient or advanced in mathematics while 74.9 percent were proficient or advanced in reading. 
• Students achieved a high rate of participation – another very important NCLB standard – as more than 99 percent completed the PSSA examinations.
• With a daily attendance rate of 95.38 percent, the target threshold of 90 percent was clearly surpassed. Altoona Area High School also exceeded the target graduation threshold.
• Juniata Elementary, which was in School Improvement I last year, earned “making progress” status because of improved PSSA scores.

Because of the school district’s size and diversity, it DOES have disaggregated groups of 40 or more students that are also required by the NCLB law to meet or exceed AYP targets.

When a disaggregated group in a school fails to meet the AYP standard – even special needs children with Individualized Education Plans – the entire school is placed in warning or school improvement.

Special needs students are required to take the same PSSA exams as their peers in the same grade level – even though they have been identified as being below grade level.

As a result of this fact alone, Altoona Area Junior High School as well as Juniata Gap and Logan elementary schools have been placed in “Warning.”

Even though Juniata School made progress last year, it remains in “School Improvement I” along with Altoona Area High School, Penn-Lincoln, Washington-Jefferson and Wright.

Despite the many positive results detailed above, the school district remains in School Improvement I – primarily because its children with special needs have not made AYP.

Teachers and principals will continue to implement a variety of strategies including Response to Intervention in kindergarten and grades 1-2; in-school tutoring programs; and additional use of the latest instructional technology to improve test scores in future years.