Fewer than half Phila. students meet state standards

The results of the Philadelphia School District's 2014 state exams are in, and overall, city students' performance dipped slightly from the previous year.

Fewer than half of all students met state standards, and both reading and math scores dropped.

In reading, 42 percent of students met the bar set on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, down from 42.3 percent last year. In math, 45.2 percent met standards, down from 46.9 percent in 2013.

"No one is satisfied with these results," Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said Wednesday. "We have a long way to go."

The scores surprised Hite, he said, but not because he was expecting higher numbers.

"I was surprised that we didn't see a more significant decline," he said. "I think that speaks to the significant contributions and commitments of our teachers, our principals, of our staff members, of our students."

Students from 23 closed schools started the 2013-14 year in new locations. Because of steep budget cuts, many schools went two months without resources such as full-time counselors, and many never got them at all.

The district's scores on the Keystone Exams, the state tests given to high school students, also showed declines from 2013 in two out of three subjects. Algebra I and literature scores declined slightly, to 38.6 percent and 51.5 percent; biology scores increased 5.3 points to 25.6 percent.

The district did report gains in some areas - eighth-grade proficiency rates increased in science, reading and writing.

Fifty-five of 168 district K-8 schools - 33 percent - improved in reading, and 48 schools, or 29 percent improved in math. (That means that 67 percent of K-8 schools either had flat scores or dropped in reading, and 71 percent didn't improve in math.)

And according to the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System, which measures student progress, officials said it appeared the district met or exceeded state standards for academic growth in reading and math.

The overall numbers represent a marked decline from the high-water mark for district performance on the annual academic accountability test. In 2011, 52 percent of Philadelphia public school students met benchmarks in reading and 59 percent in math.

But in 2012, in the wake of a Philadelphia-centered cheating scandal, the state imposed strict security measures, including requiring educators administering the test to sign affidavits pledging they would not cheat. Test scores tumbled that year.

School-by-school test results and statewide numbers for 2013-14 have not yet been made publicly available. They should be released "in the coming weeks," officials said.

Donna Cooper, executive director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth, said the district's test results were clear evidence that "the disinvestment in public education has results. It's very troubling."

To make progress, Cooper said, schools need to attract and retain high-quality staff, they need to be able to invest in classroom materials.

The district, she said, "didn't have control over either of those two things. Money alone doesn't solve the problem in public education, but without money, you can't solve the problem in public education."

Hite said the district needed more money to improve scores, but "we need to do different things with those resources."

He is emphasizing better instructional practices, and a focus on literacy in the early grades, Hite said. The just-released scores give further urgency to that work.

"These represent a baseline for us; that's how we're looking at it," said Hite. "We plan to build from this point."