Cameron County School District is listed among the 50 worst school districts in Pennsylvania –– a designation that Superintendent Dr. Keith Wolfe believes to be extremely inaccurate.
PennLive published the list this week, taken from Niche.com, a website that assists people in discovering schools and neighborhoods.
The report states that the school district, based in Emporium, ranked 33rd, and has 598 students with a 12-to-1 student-teacher ratio. According to the website, 39 percent of students are proficient in math and 62 percent proficient in reading. The district also carries an 85 percent graduation rate, and $18,617 has been spent per student, the report states.
The rankings came from an analysis of academic and student life data from the U.S. Department of Education along with test scores, college data and ratings collected from millions of Niche users.
But Wolfe countered that information, saying that the proficiency percentage in reading totals 75.5 percent, not 62 percent, and the graduation rate amounts to 90 percent, not 85 percent.
“This report does not include science proficiency rates (Cameron County’s is 78 percent) nor does it include attendance rate (Cameron County’s is 93.76 percent),” he said. “These are two very big factors that are taken into consideration by the Department of Education.”
In addition, Wolfe said Cameron County ranks fourth among the Seneca Highlands Intermediate Unit Nine’s 14 schools with standardized test scores –– ”yet none of the other schools from IU9 are on this list.”
Elsewhere across the state, Big Beaver Falls Area School District in Beaver County ranked 50th place with 1,672 students, 31 percent proficient in math, 55 percent proficient in reading, an 87 percent graduation rate and $14,750 spending per student.
The worst-performing is listed as the Wilkinsburg Borough School District of Allegheny County, with 896 students, 15 percent proficient in math, 26 percent proficient in reading, a 45 percent graduation rate and $30,646 spending per student, according to PennLive.
All told, Wolfe said he would never be happy with results on any measure of educational programming; there is room for improvement.
“As such, the board, administration, faculty, staff and students work very hard everyday to improve,” Wolfe said. “Within the past year, we have taken steps to improve the educational success of our students. This includes lesson plans that are aligned to not only meet but exceed the PA Core Standards and Anchors.”
What’s more, the district has provided professional development that includes training in the areas of standardized testing data review, trends in educational technology, advanced smartboard utilization and emergency preparedness.
District officials have also updated many instructional materials and textbook resources used in classrooms, he said.
“Our future plans include continued work on curriculum revision and development and the use curriculum mapping software as well as ongoing and timely professional development,” Wolfe said. “While we are not satisfied with our current level of academic achievement, we are nowhere near being one of the 50 worst school districts in Pennsylvania.”
