While the Bradford Area School District was determined to have
made adequate yearly progress on the Pennsylvania System of School
Assessment, two schools in the district didn’t fare so well.

Assistant Superintendent Katy Pude confirmed Tuesday that Floyd
C. Fretz Middle School has missed the mark for the second year in a
row, putting it in the School Improvement I category with the state
Department of Education. Fretz was in the Warning category in 2007,
2005 and 2003. Bradford Area High School missed the mark for the
first time since 2003, putting the school in Warning status.

The low-scoring groups for both schools were classified as
economically disadvantaged, she said.

Pude explained that Fretz students “missed one target, but
actually improved their scores.”

“They didn’t make the targeted area in the economically
disadvantaged subgroup, and last year they didn’t make it in
special education,” she said, explaining the students who missed
the mark last year made significant improvements for this year’s
test. It wasn’t the same group of students missing the mark two
years in a row, Pude explained.

The trouble area in both schools was in reading, and changes are
already under way to improve how the district’s teachers present
that material to the students.

“We’re focusing on professional development in reading,” Pude
said, “on how to teach reading for content. We’re continually
meeting as a ‘think tank’ to address the particular needs”
identified by the tests.

While the scores and the resulting classifications mean there is
work to be done, Pude said the state has some specific actions the
district must take to get there.

According to the Department of Education, a Title I school in a
larger district that falls into the School Improvement I category
opens up “school choice” for parents. That, Pude explained, would
mean that should Bradford have a second middle school, parents
could decide to send their children there rather than to Fretz
until the problems are rectified. However, because there is only
one school, that does not apply.

The state requires that Fretz officials come up with an
improvement plan that must be submitted to the Department of
Education.

“It will be a team effort,” Pude said. Superintendent Sandra
Romanowski and Pude will be involved, as will other district
administrators. “We’ve already got some things in place. When we
saw the economically disadvantaged subgroup didn’t do well, we
started talking about it.

“We absolutely need to make sure we reach all kids at all
times,” Pude said. “We need to meet our mission statement, to
maintain a standard of excellence.”

She added that while the PSSA tests are a useful tool for
measuring how well a group of students has learned, it isn’t as
accurate of a picture of how well an individual student did.

“It’s a one-time assessment,” she said of the PSSA. “You may
have a child who had a rough week. It’s a snapshot of a child.

“We do have the Pennsylvania Value Added Assessment System,” she
said, explaining that data shows the progress an individual child
makes during a time frame.

“If you can show that child has made a full year’s progress,
that’s what you need to do,” Pude said. “That shows we’re a
successful school district. We’ve already made some dramatic
changes. Hopefully we’re going to see some pretty good results.

“We have a wonderful group of teachers and a great group of kids
and we’re going to get there.”

In the past, School Street Elementary School was listed in the
Warning category twice – in 2007 and 2003.

PSSA scores for Bradford school district revealed

The 2007-08 scores for Bradford Area School District students on
the Pennsylvania System of School Assessments reflect how
percentages of students performed in the categories of math,
reading and writing.

The scores are broken down by grade and by school, and subgroups
– groups containing 40 or more students – are counted as well. The
subgroups reported for BASD were economically disadvantaged and
Individual Education Plan (special education) students.

At Bradford Area High School, 236 students – all in 11th grade –
were tested in math and writing and 237 in reading. Of those, 22.5
percent tested in the advanced category for math; 29.2 percent
tested as proficient; 23.7 percent were basic and 24.6 percent were
below basic.

In reading, 27.4 percent tested as advanced, 33.3 percent as
proficient, 15.6 percent as basic and 23.6 percent as below basic.
For writing, 11.9 percent tested as advanced, 66.5 percent as
proficient, 18.2 percent as basic and 3.4 percent as below
basic.

For the economically disadvantaged students, in math, 13.6
percent tested as advanced, 13.6 percent as proficient, 30.3
percent as basic and 42.4 percent as below basic. In reading, 13.4
percent tested as advanced, 32.8 percent as proficient, 11.9
percent as basic and 41.8 percent as below basic. In writing, 6.2
percent tested as advanced, 56.9 as proficient, 27.7 as basic and
9.2 as below basic.

For the special education students, none tested as advanced or
proficient, 6.7 percent tested at the basic level and 93.3 percent
tested at below basic for math. In reading, none tested advanced or
basic, while 3.3 percent tested as proficient and 96.7 percent
tested at below basic.

At Floyd C. Fretz Middle School, grades 6, 7 and 8 were tested
for math and reading and grade 8 only for writing. According to the
results, a total of 598 students were tested in math and reading.
In math, 43.5 percent of the overall students tested as advanced,
30.8 percent as proficient, 14.2 percent as basic and 11.5 percent
as below basic.

In reading, 40 percent tested as advanced, 29.1 percent as
proficient, 14.9 percent as basic and 16.1 percent as below basic.
In writing, 0.5 percent tested as advanced, 64.2 percent as
proficient, 32.5 percent as basic and 2.8 percent as below
basic.

For the economically disadvantaged students, in math, 30.1
percent were advanced, 28.9 as proficient, 20.5 percent as basic
and 20.5 as below basic. In reading, 24.4 percent tested as
advanced, 29.8 percent as proficient, 18.1 percent as basic and
27.7 percent as below basic. In writing, none were advanced, 47.8
percent were proficient, 47.8 percent were basic and 4.4 percent
were below basic.

For the special education students, in math, 2.7 percent tested
as advanced, 17.6 percent as proficient, 25.7 percent as basic and
54.1 percent as below basic. In reading, 1.4 percent tested
advanced, 12.3 percent as proficient, 16.4 percent as basic and
69.9 percent as below basic. In writing, none were advanced, 6.7
percent were proficient, 80 percent were at the basic level and
13.3 percent were below basic.

Grades 3, 4 and 5 at School Street Elementary School were also
tested. In math, 44 percent scored advanced, 29.8 percent as
proficient, 15.5 percent as basic and 10.8 percent as below basic.
In reading, 24.5 percent scored as advanced, 44.9 percent as
proficient, 14.9 as basic and 15.7 percent as below basic. In
writing, 5.2 percent scored advanced, 59.9 percent as proficient,
34.9 percent as basic and none in below basic.