Another Look at PSSA Scores 2008

July, 2008

On July 25, 2008 Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt announced that "in 20007-08 the district made substantial progress, significant progress, in raising student achievement at all levels, across the board" http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08207/899427-52.stm.

However, using the data released so far by the district and following the same class through its years of PSSA testing, only the PSSA Reading scores of the current 7th and 8th grade classes (labeled "Class of 2012 PSSA Reading" and "Class of 2013 PSSA Reading") show large gains. The current 5th grade (Class of 2015) showed a noticeable downward trend in both Reading and Math, while achievement for other classes was basically flat.

This type of “longitudinal” view of student progress is gaining increased emphasis and is part of the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System (“PVAAS”) (see http://www.pdeinfo.state.pa.us/a_and_t/lib/a_and_t/Overview_StateImpl110106.pdf). PVAAS reports for 2008 will be released in the Fall.

How to read the graphs:

Each graph follows the same class through its years of PSSA testing, beginning with tests given in the 2004 - 2005 school year and showing the percentage scoring at each level (Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, and Advanced). PSSA testing begins in grade 3, and there is no PSSA testing in grades 9 and 10. In general an upward line is good for the lines showing proficient and advanced levels of achievement while a downward line is good for the lines showing below basic and basic levels of achievement.

Most useful is the purple "Proficient and Advanced" line at the top of each graph. The purple line combines the percentages of students scoring at the proficient level and at the advanced level- in other words, those who are testing appropriately for their grade level. This line is useful for seeing the trends in the scores -- going up is good, staying the same is not good, and going down is bad.

All information on these graphs comes from the PPS website document “District Trends in Reading and Mathematics Achievement,”
http://www.pps.k12.pa.us/143110829171011580/lib/143110829171011580/PSSAgradesk8.Results.pdf.