Springfield HS still top of the class in education
Springfield High School is once again the top public school in the county on state-issued assessment profiles to show student performance and growth in a school year.
The school earned a county-leading score of 97.2 out of 100 on School Performance Profiles released by the Pennsylvania Department of Education on Oct. 27. Springfield is the first school to be the top scorer for two consecutive years since SPPs were first released in 2013.
Springfield’s score for the 2016-17 school year is just a hair under the 97.7 they scored last year for 2015-16.
“The (high school) administration could not be more proud of our teachers and students for their continued comprehensive performance successes,” said Principal Joseph Hepp. “It reflects their dedication and commitment, day in and day out, to maximizing the learning experiences in the classroom.”
On the school’s profile, highest marks were awarded for student growth in the fields of algebra, biology and literature with at least a 78 score for percentage of students earning a passing mark on the Keystone assessment tests in those fields.
There were 3.64 extra credit points awarded for advanced scoring on Keystones, AP exams and industry-based competency assessments.
District Superintendent Anthony Barber said administrators and the
“The efforts demonstrated by our students, staff, and administration are, of course, laudable. It takes a team focus and relentless spirit to put in the hard work to achieve these successes. And, although we are very pleased, we realize there is still much work to be done, and we look forward to those challenges.” — District Superintendent Anthony Barber
school board work to meet the expectations of the PDE while carefully allocating resources to reach such success.
“The efforts demonstrated by our students, staff, and administration are, of course, laudable,” he said. “It takes a team focus and relentless spirit to put in the hard work to achieve these successes. And, although we are very pleased, we realize there is still much work to be done, and we look forward to those challenges.”
Springfield was one of five schools in the county to receive at least a 90 on their SPP, the others being Concord Elementary (90.7), Garnet Valley Elementary (91.8), Radnor High School (90.5), and Strath Haven High School (91.4).
High schools were the highest scoring building in nine of 15 districts, the others besides Radnor, Springfield and Strath Haven being Haverford (88.7), Interboro (80.7), Marple Newtown (88.1), Ridley (77.9), Penncrest (86.8) and Upper Darby (75.3).
Chichester and Garnet Valley high schools were in the middle of their districts with respective scores of 65.2 and 86.6. Penn Wood followed in with a 67.6.
Chester High School was the lowest scoring building in the ChesterUpland School District with a 33. The Chester STEM High School fared better with a 51.4.
Academy Park and Sun Valley high schools were the second worst scoring buildings in their respective districts, Southeast Delco and Penn-Delco, with scores of 53.1 and 57.7
Top scoring school aside, Springfield School District as a whole did better compared to last year. Not including the literacy center, its four buildings averaged an 81.9 for 201617, up from 78.2 for 201516. Springfield ranked third of all county school district after Haverford (82.13) and Garnet Valley (83.76), the latter keeping the highest district average for the second year in a row.
After the aforementioned, here is how school district scores averaged overall for 2016-17: Chester-Upland, 50.65; Chichester, 70.72; Interboro, 70.76; Marple Newtown, 79.38; Penn-Delco, 66.58; Radnor, 77.02; Ridley, 67.4; Rose Tree Media, 77.55; Southeast Delco, High School this fashion 60.98; Upper Darby, 59.38; Wallingford-Swarthmore, 78.24; and William Penn, 59.08.
For brick and mortar charter schools, Chester Charter School for the arts had a leading score of 54. The Widener Partnership and Vision Academy charter schools followed behind with respective scores of 47.8 and 47. Chester Community earned a 40.9.
There were various gains and losses found in school and district scores throughout the county.
As reported previously, Aldan Elementary School (William Penn) boasted the highest year-to-year SPP score increase ever reported in the county by jumping 23 points from 50.4 to 73.4. William Penn Superintendent Jane Ann Harbert said she was pleased with the progress made and that, “our students and staff work very hard and this is reflected in the gains shown in our School Performance Profile scores.”
William Penn also had the biggest district average score increase from last year by jumping 5.48 points to 59.08.
On the opposite end of the spectrum was Interboro whose average score dropped over eight points from last year.
Since 2013, six districts have had their average scores go down: Haverford, Marple Newtown, Radnor, Ridley, Upper Darby and WallingfordSwarthmore. Radnor has shown the sharpest drop in that time frame, going from an average 97 to 77.
“For the first two years, the majority of the score was based on student achievement, and our scores reflected our success on this measurement,” said Radnor spokesman Michael Petitti. “In 2014-15, PDE adjusted the scoring model to give greater weight to student growth and closing the achievement gap. For districts that performed especially well in the first year(s) of SPP scoring, this adjustment led to a reduction in scores.
“We continue to work toward improving scores in all areas for all students, but also recognize there are many different ways to gauge success, including ways that cannot be measured.”
District principals will provide plans to target specific needs from state data during the school board’s Nov. 28 curriculum committee.
In September, the state reported that Radnor had about 92 percent of its high school students and 86 percent of middle and high school students pass the state’s PSSA and Keystone exams, the highest passage rate in the county.
Wallingford-Swarthmore has also witnessed its average score drop double digits from 91.1 to 78.2.
Haverford, Marple Newtown, Ridley and Upper Darby each experienced their district averages drop nine points or fewer.
Conversely, Chester-Upland has had a slow and steady increase of five points over the years, the only district to consistently trend up.
When asked if SPP scores had generally increased or decreased throughout the state, a PDE spokesperson said the department does not “analyze the data for large trends.”
The SPPs were created as an assessment tool to replace No Child Left Behind. They gauge student performance on state assessment tests, closing achievement gaps, student growth and other achievement indicators.
In 2018, the PDE will implement the Future Ready PA Index that will include comprehensive information about school success.