City schools clear state's bar

Sept. 15, 2010

By PATRICK E. LITOWITZ
plitowitz@ncnewsonline.com

Target practice bolstered George Gabriel’s confidence as New Castle prepared for the state’s 2010 assessment test.

The superintendent was pleased, but not surprised, when the school district earned its fourth consecutive Adequate Yearly Progress citation.

“We were able to give preassessment tests that correlated with the (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment test),” Gabriel said. “I knew months ago that we did pretty well.”

The annual testing is required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Schools are scored on performances in math and reading in addition to the number of exam participants and school attendance/graduation. Students in grades three through eight and 11 take part.

Math and reading performance are at the core of the PSSA. In reading, 63 percent of the students must attain advanced or proficient comprehension. That goal is 56 percent in math.

The district’s third-grade students in the John F. Kennedy, Thaddeus Stevens and West Side primary centers posted the best results. Thaddeus Stevens students turned in a 81.8 percent showing in reading. The top math effort came from West Side with a 92.7 rating.

Next year, the goals are higher.

“The challenge is that the state has raised the bar in reading and math for the 2011 test,” Gabriel said.

The math standard jumps from 56 to 67 percent, while the reading target increases from 63 to 72 percent.

Using the Pennsylvania Department of Education projections, the district will meet the higher criterion set for math. However, George Washington Intermediate Elementary School and the junior/senior high school are trailing the 2011 goals for reading.

Gabriel said data-driven instruction allows teachers to pinpoint problem areas.
“We could see where there were deficiencies and change instruction accordingly,” he said. “Our math and reading scores are showing that the district’s curriculum teaching techniques are making a difference.”

According to the state, New Castle had an 86.3 graduation rate. The goal was 85 percent.

Students also were tested in math and science. However, those results were not part of the overall scoring. Three grades took part in each section.

Participants in the science section were made up of the fourth grade (65.4 percent were advanced or proficient), eighth grade (33.3 percent) and 11th grade (27 percent). Classes part of the writing exam were fifth grade (54.8 percent), eighth grade (63.3 percent) and 11th grade (72.4 percent).