The Bradford Area School District’s status for the 2007-08
results of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment is “made
adequate yearly progress” under the requirements of the federal No
Child Left Behind legislation.

Assistant Superintendent Katy Pude explained to The Era that the
district’s results are in from the Pennsylvania Department of
Education for the standardized tests given in grades 3-8 and 11.
Each school tested – School Street Elementary, Floyd C. Fretz
Middle School and Bradford Area High School – met or exceeded the
state’s targets on two out of three targeted areas, while School
Street’s students hit all three targets.

Pude said that George G. Blaisdell Elementary School is judged
on the basis of the third grade scores, and also made adequate
yearly progress.

The first target area is attendance and graduation. The state’s
goals are 90 percent attendance and 80 percent graduation.

Pude explained School Street’s and Fretz’s attendance were both
at 96 percent, while the graduation rate for the high school was 88
percent, all higher than the state’s thresholds.

The second targeted area is PSSA participation, with the state’s
goal at 95 percent.

At School Street, there was 100 percent participation in math
and reading; at Fretz, 99 percent at each; and at the High School,
97 percent in math and 98 percent in reading.

Pude explained the areas where the district fell short were in
the calculations of performance scores for the economically
disadvantaged students at the High School and Fretz.

“Although Fretz Middle School has continued to make improvements
in both reading and math with all students, the students in the
economically disadvantaged group in reading did not make AYP
(adequate yearly progress),” Pude explained.

However, the subgroup did make adequate yearly progress on the
math portion of the test.

At the high school, the economically disadvantaged subgroup did
not make the adequate yearly progress mark for either reading or
math.

The full results for the PSSA are expected to be released by the
state Department of Education today.