State education officials created The Future Ready PA Index after gathering feedback from stakeholders across the Commonwealth who gave input into “how we can more effectively measure and support student success,” said Matthew Stem, the state’s deputy secretary for elementary and secondary education.
The index restored state reporting of the academic achievement of subgroups including students of various races, those with economic disadvantage, English language learners and students with disabilities. And, it gives users the ability to compare districts of similar size, achievement levels or other characteristics.
Initially, the index may bring more confusion than clarity to users who are accustomed to seeing a single score for each school as previously provided on the annual School Performance Profiles issued by the state Department of Education.
But the department has been moving toward an evaluation system that does not label schools with a single score based largely on test results for some time.
Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Anthony Hamlet said district leaders haven’t had a chance to dig into the school profiles on the index but will be doing so in the weeks to come. The superintendent told PublicSource he is happy to be moving away from a system that graded each school with a single score.
“I think that’s what you want to get away from. It doesn’t quantify for growth, which is huge,” he said.
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https://www.publicsource.org/pas-new-system-to-track-academic-growth-pittsburgh-schools/
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