A Massive Effort
Even traditional public schools with all their students in one building may find it difficult to achieve at least 95 percent participation in the annual Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) academic performance testing.
Imagine, then, the magnitude of the task faced by cyber charter schools. They had to gather far-flung student populations at sites scattered across the state to administer the PSSA during the first two weeks of March 2007. The 6,400 students enrolled in the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School this past school year resided in 491 of the state’s 501 public school districts – literally in every nook and cranny of our state.
PA Cyber met and exceeded the requirement this year with an impressive 98 percent participation rate!
Together with showing overall improvement and meeting performance targets in math, reading, attendance, and graduation, the high participation rate helped PA Cyber make AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) for 2007. Students, their parents and PA Cyber staff members all share credit for this remarkable achievement.
The PSSA and AYP
Every Pennsylvania student in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11 is required to be assessed in reading and math, with students in grades 5, 8 and 11 additionally tested for writing skills. At least 95 percent of a school’s eligible students must take the PSSA in order for that school to achieve AYP for participation.
There are three components for meeting AYP: (1) student participation rate (2) percentage of students scoring at the proficient level or above in English-language arts and mathematics, and (3) attendance and graduation rates.
The PSSA cannot be administered over the Internet. Part of Pennsylvania’s compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, the test must be taken in person in a monitored setting. PA Cyber set up 29 testing sites around the state – at churches, community centers, colleges and hotels.
- 171 proctors administered the test
- $163,000 – cost to PA Cyber for site rentals, hotel rooms, travel and supplies.
- 2 days, 4 hours per day – actual time PA Cyber students spent taking the PSSA
- 29 testing sites
- 36,385 total miles logged by PA Cyber staff to and from test sites
- 98 percent participation rate
- 5 students – smallest group tested at one site (Coudersport, PA)
- 470 nights spent by staff in hotel rooms
- 12 miles – shortest staff travel to a testing site (Monaca, PA)
- 2,959 PA Cyber students tested in March 2007 (compared to 2,140 in 2006)
- 349 miles – longest staff travel to a testing site (Stroudsburg, PA)
- 222 students – largest group tested at one site (Cranberry, PA)
- 1 hour: maximum travel time by any family to the nearest PA Cyber testing site
Laying the Groundwork
Months before test week, Principal Andrew Oberg and other PA Cyber administrators motivated and informed parents by conducting town hall meetings across the state. At these meetings – often piggybacked onto field trips and Family Link events – they explained the NCLB Act, the why and how of the PSSA test, and the importance of participation.
The effort by PA Cyber to get every student tested this year began with brainstorming sessions the previous November. Principal Oberg said planners recognized that cyber students are put at a disadvantage compared to students in traditional schools. In a brick and mortar school, PSSA testing can be (and usually is) administered in small increments over the period of five days. Cyber students, in contrast, are brought by their parents to an unfamiliar location to take a difficult test, under a tighter time schedule, and at the direction of people they have likely never met before.
“Here we are asking parents to drop off their fourth grader at a hotel,” said Oberg. “Our site team honed in on what students would need to put them at ease, things as simple as knowing where the restroom is. We worked to make the testing environment as comfortable as possible. We put a lot of people at each site, and increased the number of sites so no family would have to travel more than an hour – most within 20 minutes.”
Prior to test week, a brochure and CD on the PSSA were created and sent out to students. Links were provided to websites with sample tests and tutorials. Eleventh graders received a TIA83 graphic calculator a month in advance to prepare for the algebra sections of their math test. Students in certain grades took the Scantron Performance Assessment (available through the Blackboard program) at the beginning and end of the school year. This academic diagnostic screening measures individual progress and pinpoints deficiency areas, with free tutoring arranged through the child’s Instructional Supervisor.
While traditional schools had the luxury of spreading the PSSA out over a week, PA Cyber educators settled on a two-day schedule, with each day half math and half reading. Students were provided with a continental breakfast, a lunch and a snack for the afternoon break.
2,959 PA Cyber students take the PSSA
The massive effort by PA Cyber paid off with 2,798 students tested during March 12-16. Another 161 who missed the first round were tested in a follow-up push the second week, March 19-23. With a 95 percent target, the school made 98 percent participation.
And that participation rate helped the school achieve AYP.
Administrators will use PSSA results and other testing to make system-wide decisions about curriculum, instructional methods and delivery of educational services, as well as to gauge the academic progress of each individual child.
“Many skeptics don’t believe our non-traditional format works. We believe it does, and our PSSA results now prove it,” – Principal Oberg