School District of Philadelphia Test Scores Show Strong Gains for an Unprecedented Sixth Year

PSSA 2007-2008 Test Scores Reveal Gains in Math and Reading and Subgroups

PHILADELPHIA - The School District of Philadelphia today released the 2007-2008 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) test results, which show a record sixth consecutive year of growth in math and reading scores. Math scores rose 4.1 percentage points over last year, or 29.5 percentage points since 2002, and reading scores rose 4.2 percentage points, or 20.9 percentage points since 2002. (See Chart 1.) The PSSA is administered every year in reading and math to all third through eighth grade and eleventh grade students.

"The School Reform Commission is immeasurably pleased that we now can claim six consecutive years of test score growth," said Chairwoman Sandra Dungee Glenn. "Our results are due to the effective efforts of teachers and principals, the support of parents, regional and central administration, and most importantly to the hard work of our students. Our history of six years of test score increases corresponds to the period during which the SRC has directed additional targeted resources to our schools. This underscores the fact that large, diverse urban school districts can be successful in raising student achievement, given adequate resources. This message is a timely one, since the Pennsylvania legislature is currently deliberating on a State budget which contains Governor Edward G. Rendell’s proposal to provide additional funding for all of Pennsylvania’s public school systems. That is something that is vitally needed here in Philadelphia in order to continue this upward progress."

The sixth year of test score increases is marked by strong gains across all grades in the number of students scoring Advanced or Proficient in math and reading with the exception of 4th grade reading scores, which showed no change. (See Chart 2.) PSSA results reported by groups also show increases in all categories when reported by race/ethnicity, students with disabilities, English language learners, and economically disadvantaged students. (See Charts 5-8.)

"I congratulate the educators, students and parents of the School District of Philadelphia for this significant achievement," said Superintendent of Schools Arlene C. Ackerman. "I can assure the citizens of Philadelphia that any large, diverse urban school system in America would be happy to claim a system-wide gain of this size. That it was accomplished here in Philadelphia is a tribute to the leadership of the School Reform Commission and my predecessors. Moreover, it will give me, my administrative team, and our principals and teachers a platform on which to build further student success."

The percentage of students scoring Below Basic, which is the lowest performance level, continued to decline. Students in the 5th and 7th grades demonstrated the greatest decline in both reading and math. In the 5th grade, students scoring Below Basic in reading declined by 4.9 percentage points and in math by 6.4 percentage points. Seventh grade decreases in the Below Basic category were even more dramatic. In reading the numbers declined by 6.2 percentage points and math 8.8 percentage points. (See Chart 4.)

"We are very proud of our students, our teachers and all of the staff members, whose creativity and commitment have fueled annual achievement gains," said Jerry Jordan, President of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. There are few districts in the country that have sustained academic growth for six years consecutively. We cannot stop striving for excellence, and we must never be complacent, because there are still too many children who are not making enough progress academically to graduate from high school on time and prepared for work and college. We must do more to insure all children receive greater access to a high quality education in our schools."

Following are highlights of the 2008 PSSA test results for the School District of Philadelphia.

Percentage of Students Scoring Advanced or Proficient by Grade

• 2008 marks the sixth consecutive year of aggregate, District-wide increases in reading and math. Reading scores increased by 4.2 percentage points and math scores increased 4.1 percentage points. (See Charts 1 and 2.)
• There are increases in the percentage of students scoring Advanced or Proficient in reading and math in all grades, with the exception of grade 4 reading, where the percentage is the same.
• Increases in reading ranged from no gain in grade 4 to 6.9 percentage points in grade 7. Increases in math ranged from 1.7 percentage points in grade 11 to 8.2 percentage points in grade 7. Increases in reading and math in grades 7 and 8 are especially noteworthy.
• In reading, 44.8% of students scored Advanced or Proficient, while almost one-half (49.0%) scored at these levels in math.
• The percentage of students scoring Advanced or Proficient in reading ranged from 36.2% in grade 5 to 55.5% in grade 8. Both grade 3 and grade 8 had more than half of the students scoring Advanced or Proficient
• In math, the Advanced or Proficient percentage ranged from 32.6% in grade 11 to 55.1% in grade 3. Both grades 3 and 4 had more than half of the students scoring Advanced or Proficient, with grades 5 and 6 having nearly half of the students scoring Advanced or Proficient.

Percentage of Students Scoring Below Basic by Grade

• As Below Basic is the lowest PSSA performance level, the goal is to reduce the percentage of Below Basic students. 2008 is the sixth consecutive year of aggregate, District-wide reductions in the percentage of students scoring Below Basic in math. There is a similar trend for reading; the percentage of students scoring Below Basic increased in 2005, but has since continued to decline. In 2008 reading, the Below Basic percentage decreased by 4.0 percentage points. In math, the percentage decreased by 2.7 percentage points. (See Charts 3 and 4.)
• There is a reduction in the percentage of students scoring Below Basic in reading in all grades. In math, four grade levels show decreases – grade 3 (reduction of .4 percentage points), grade 5 (6.4), grade 7 (8.8), and grade 8 (3.1).
• Reductions in reading ranged from 2.3 percentage points in grade 6 to 6.2 percentage points in grade 7. Reductions in math ranged from a 1.0 percentage point increase in grade 11 to 8.8 percentage points in grade 7. Reductions in the Below Basic percentage are especially noteworthy in grades 5 and 7 for reading and math.
• In reading, 33.2% of students scored Below Basic. In math, 30.8% scored at this level.
• Grade level percentages of students scoring Below Basic in reading ranged from 27.3% in grade 8 (the lower the percentage the better) to 41.5% in grade 11.
• Grade level percentages of students scoring Below Basic in math ranged from 19.2% in grade 3 to 51.6% in grade 11.

Percentage of Students Scoring Advanced or Proficient by Group

• The District also saw strong test results by race/ethnicity, along with results for students with disabilities, English language learners, and economically disadvantaged students. There were increases in the percentage of students scoring Advanced or Proficient in reading and math in all groups. (See Charts 5 through 8.)
• In reading, the Latino/Hispanic group showed the largest increase, with an increase of 4.7 percentage points in the percentage of students scoring Advanced or Proficient. In math, Black students showed the largest increase, with an increase of 4.2 percentage points in the percentage scoring Advanced or Proficient.
• Asian students scored the highest, with 67.5% scoring Advanced or Proficient in reading and 79.2% in math. In reading, Latino students scored the lowest with 38.5% at Advanced or Proficient. In math, Black students scored the lowest with 43.0 at these levels.
• The difference between the percentage of White students and Black or Latino/Hispanic students scoring Advanced or Proficient decreased slightly (about 1 percentage point in most cases) from 2007 to 2008 in both reading and math. The largest decrease in the gap was for Latino/Hispanic students in reading, who reduced the gap by 1.8 percentage points.
• In reading and math, students with disabilities, English language learners, and economically disadvantaged students all increased in the percentage of students scoring Advanced or Proficient.
• Students with disabilities, although showing increases in the percentage scoring Advanced or Proficient in reading and math, still have low percentages, with 14.7% Advanced or Proficient in reading and 19.9% at these levels in math.

Percentage of Students Scoring Below Basic by Group

• There are decreases in the percentage of students scoring Below Basic in reading and math for all groups. (See Charts 9 through 12.)
• In reading and math, Latino/Hispanic students showed the largest drop, with a decrease of 4.7 percentage points in the percentage of students scoring Below Basic in reading, and a decrease of 3.3 percentage points in math. There is also a decrease of Black students in Below Basic, with a decline of 4.1 percentage points in reading, and 2.7 points in math.
• The Asian group has the lowest percentage of students scoring Below Basic, with 16.4% scoring Below Basic in reading and 9.6% in math. In reading, Latino/Hispanic students had the highest percentage of students scoring Below Basic, 39.5%, while in math Black students had the highest percentage at 35.1%.
• In reading and math, students with disabilities, English language learners, and economically disadvantaged students all showed decreases in the percentages of Below Basic students from 2007 to 2008.
• Students with disabilities had a reduction of 2.9 percentage points in reading in the percentage of students scoring Below Basic, and a drop of 3.6 percentage points in math.

PSSA Reading Results by Management Type

• Gains are also found throughout schools when grouped by management type. The management types are charter schools, EMOs, and District-managed (District-managed includes District schools, except those managed by EMOs). (See Charts 13 and 15.)
• All management types increased the percentage of students scoring Advanced or Proficient in reading. EMOs had the largest increase (6.1 percentage points), followed by charters (4.8 percentage points), and District-managed schools with the smallest increase (3.3 percentage points).
• In 2008, charter schools had the highest percentage (51.5%) of students in reading scoring Advanced or Proficient, followed by District-managed (47.3%), with EMO-managed schools having the lowest percentage of students (30.6%) scoring Advanced or Proficient.
• Among individual EMOs, Universal had the largest increase (10.6 percentage points) of students scoring Advanced or Proficient, in reading, with Temple schools having the lowest (2.0 percentage points). Note: Several of the EMOs – Temple (4 schools), Universal (3 schools), and Penn (2 schools) – have few schools. Therefore, their test results may fluctuate more widely from year-to-year than the EMOs serving more schools.

PSSA Math Results by Management Type

• All management types increased the percentages of students scoring Advanced or Proficient in math. Charters had the largest increase (6.3 percentage points), followed by EMO-managed (6.0 percentage points), and District-managed schools had the smallest increase (3.1 percentage points). (See Charts 14 and 15.)
• In 2008, and for the first time, charters had the highest percentage (51.6%) of students scoring Advanced or Proficient in math, followed by District-managed (51.4%), with EMO-managed schools having the lowest percentage of students (34.9%) scoring Advanced or Proficient.
• Among individual EMOs, Victory had the largest increase (8.2 percentage points) of students in math scoring Advanced or Proficient, with Penn schools having a decline (1.2 percentage points).

• PSSA Fact Sheet
• 2008 PSSA Results

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