It's Been A Challenging 2 Years Of School, And The Test Scores Show It
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pennsylvania standardized test scores are out and show just how far kids fell behind during the pandemic.
From school online at home to hybrid days with no routine to days missed because of COVID-19, it's been a challenging two years of school.
And the test scores show it. The Pennsylvania System of School Assessment test scores from 2021 show more than 41% of third-graders across the state are not proficient at reading.
Third grade is an important benchmark because, after that, kids are expected to know how to read for comprehension.
That's evident in the eighth-grade scores – almost half are not proficient in reading.
James Fogarty, executive director of A+ Schools, says, "We knew that in-person schooling was important for kids to learn, right? If cyberschool had worked over the past 15 to 20 years, we would have had cyber charters that were getting way better results than our district schools. We had not seen that in the data ever."
For Pittsburgh Public Schools, which struggled to get laptops to all kids and was remote most of the last school year, third-grade reading was down in all but four of the district's 34 K-5 and K-8 schools. Scores at eight schools show less than one-fifth of the kids reading at a proficient level, with one school as low as 5%.
"It's no surprise," Fogarty says. "It was saddening to me. It speaks to when we were one of three school systems in (Allegheny County) that was fully online, and everyone else was either hybrid or in person the whole time."
Fogarty believes Pittsburgh should train teachers on the best ways to teach reading to help identify kids who are struggling and help them catch up. He adds that the pandemic's challenges also widened the gap between Black and white students.
For example, Colfax K-8 students showed some of the highest proficiency rates in all subjects, but there were significant performance gaps between Black and white students.
"Why you see such huge disparities in the data this year is really related to issues of poverty and resources," Fogarty says.
As for math, the PSSA scores across Pennsylvania are even worse than English. More than half of kids from third through eighth grade are not proficient at math, with 78% of eighth-graders scoring below proficient.
Pittsburgh Public Schools responded by saying, "We remain focused on accelerating learning and addressing the unfinished learning of our students. It is improper to compare 2020-2021 results with previous years due to various conditions exacerbated by pandemic-related disruptions."
A+ Schools is encouraging families to get kids in after-school and summer programs that can also help with academics. You can find many free and subsidized programs on the Allegheny Childcare Finder here.
As for tutoring, A+ Schools actually called for this to start last summer. But by now, Fogarty says it's probably too late for a city-wide organized program for this summer. The school is working with CMU on a special tutoring program with college students to try to expand to more kids.
If you'd like to see how your school or district did on the PSSA's, click here.
And to find many more programs to help kids academically, you'll find all kinds of great options on the Kidsburgh website here.
