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Swoyersville man charged with stealing racing bicycle in Kingston

Fantasy Land: Fantasy Football began some 53 years ago

<p>Fears about the impact of new state tests &#8212; expected to result in substantially lower scores than last year &#8212; were eased today when the state announced there will be no School Performance Profiles (SPP) this year for most schools.</p><p>The SPP scores, given to each school annually by the state, are heavily influenced by the standardized test results.</p><p>Gov. Tom Wolf announced that Pennsylvania has been granted a waiver from the federal Department of Education &#8220;which allows for a one-year pause in the use of the School Performance Profile,&#8221; according to a media release. The SPP, introduced in the 2012-13 school year, is designed to meet federal requirements that public schools show academic progress among students.</p><p>There are two sets of state standardized tests, the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) tests given in grades three through eight, and the newer Keystone Exams given at the end of a course in high school.</p><p>The federal waiver only applies to the PSSA tests. Schools that administer the Keystone exams &#8212; high schools and junior/senior high schools that include a graduating class &#8212; will still get SPP scores this year, according to the release.</p><p>Results from the test are also used in a new teacher evaluation system recently adopted. While the evaluation system remains in place, the waiver means that PSSA results will not be used as part of those evaluations in schools that do not administer the Keystone exams.</p><p>According to the release, &#8220;Wolf and Education Secretary Pedro A. Rivera had requested the waiver in using the 2015 PSSA scores to calculate SPP and teacher effectiveness ratings due to sweeping changes to the assessment that took effect in the 2014-15 school year.&#8221;</p><p>The change in tests was required because the state implemented the Pennsylvania Core standards, a version of the Common Core standards adopted by most states in recent years. The new standards are designed to substantially increase rigor in math and English Language Arts (reading comprehension), and the new tests given earlier this year were reflected the change in standards.</p><p>The state gives test results as the percentage of students scoring in each of four categories: Below basic, basic, proficient or advanced.</p><p>But it became clear in recent weeks that results from this year&#8217;s tests are dramatically lower than last year&#8217;s, particularly in math. While complete results aren&#8217;t expected to be released until later this month, early numbers showed the number students statewide scoring proficient or advanced in math had dropped by about 35 percent.</p><p><strong>New standards</strong></p><p>The state has warned that this year&#8217;s test results can&#8217;t be compared to last year, but area superintendents voiced growing concern that the public wouldn&#8217;t heed the warning. They were concerned the lower scores would be viewed out of context, making schools look like they had gotten substantially worse in a single year.</p><p>Area superintendents also said the use of the new tests in gauging schools through SPP and measuring teacher effectiveness would not be fair this year because of the changes. The waiver is designed to allay those concerns for most schools.</p><p>The waiver likely does little to assuage another problem superintendents predicted will result from the drop in test scores: Students who have been doing well in school and have scored well in previous state tests will still likely struggle with the disparity between prior performance and this year&#8217;s scores.</p><p>The SPP System was itself made possible because of a federal waiver to requirements mandated under the law known as No Child Left Behind passed in 2001.</p><p>NCLB required all public school districts to give standardized math and reading tests annually to students, and to steadily increase the percentage of students scoring proficient or better until 100 percent hit that benchmark in 2014.</p><p>As the 2014 deadline approached, it became clear most districts would fail to meet the 100 percent goal. The the U.S. Department of Education began issuing waivers to the mandate, with each state adopting a new way to measure student progress. In Pennsylvania, that new way was the SPP system.</p><p>The SPP system does not require schools to reach a specific percentage of student scoring proficient or better. SPP gives a single score to each school based on a broader set of test results and other factors. Annual improvement in student academic success is more important than the percentage scoring proficient.</p><p>There is no requirement to hit a specific SPP score, which can range from zero to 100 with a few additional points available through an &#8220;extra credit&#8221; system. When SPP was first introduced, then-acting secretary of education Carolyn Dumaresq cited a score of 70 as a good benchmark.</p><p><strong>One-year waiver</strong></p><p>While the waiver announced Tuesday is only for one year, it may signal bigger changes to the SPP system. In the media release, state Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera said the waiver is part of a larger review of the system ordered by Wolf.</p><p>&#8220;Successfully measuring school performance is an important part of ensuring our students are prepared for the future,&#8221; Rivera said. &#8220;With a new PSSA baseline in place, we can ensure the SPP is an accurate, useful tool that helps educators, administrators, community members, and leaders evaluate schools&#8217; progress and performance for years to come.&#8221;</p><p>But it became clear in recent weeks that results from this year&#8217;s tests are dramatically lower than last year&#8217;s results, particularly in math.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_Wolf-Tom.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Gov.Tom Wolf </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_Wolf-Tom.jpg</photo0><caption0>Gov.Tom Wolf </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Federal waiver means no School Performance Profile scores this year