Wyalusing Area School District - Academic Achievement

Academic Achievement

Wyalusing Area School District was ranked 280th out of 498 Pennsylvania school districts by the Pittsburgh Business Times in 2012. The ranking was based on student academic achievement as demonstrated on the last three years of the PSSAs for: reading, writing math and science. The PSSAs are given to all children in grades 3rd through 8th and the 11th grade in high school. Adapted examinations are given to children in the special education programs.

• 2011 - 323rd
• 2010 - 311th
• 2009 - 335th
• 2008 - 320th
• 2007 - 335th out of 501 school districts.

Overachievers statewide ranking

In 2012, the Pittsburgh Business Times also reported an Overachievers Ranking for 498 Pennsylvania school districts. Wyalusing Area School District ranked 275th. In 2011, the district was 241st. The editor describes the ranking as: "a ranking answers the question - which school districts do better than expectations based upon economics? This rank takes the Honor Roll rank and adds the percentage of students in the district eligible for free and reduced lunch into the formula. A district finishing high on this rank is smashing expectations, and any district above the median point is exceeding expectations."

District Adequate Yearly Progress

In both 2011 and 2010, Wyalusing Area School District achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status. In 2011, School District achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). In 2011, 94 percent of the 500 Pennsylvania public school districts achieved the No Child Left Behind Act progress level of 72% of students reading on grade level and 67% of students demonstrating on grade level math. In 2011, 46.9 percent of Pennsylvania school districts achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) based on student performance. An additional 37.8 percent of school districts made AYP based on a calculated method called safe harbor, 8.2 percent on the growth model and 0.8 percent on a two-year average performance. The District has achieved AYP status every year since 2003.

In 2012, Wyalusing Area Junior Senior High School was recognized by US News and World Report as a Bronze level high school in a nation wide school ranking. The study was conducted by American Institutes for Research which examined how many students attained performance levels that exceed statistical expectations given the school's relative level of student poverty, as measured by state accountability test scores for all the school's students in the core subjects of reading and math. The study also examined the success rate for the school's least advantaged student groups (e.g., black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged students) that exceed state averages. The study included 752 high schools in Pennsylvania including traditional public schools, public charter schools and public magnet schools. In Pennsylvania, 136 public high schools achieved a Bronze rating in 2012; 49 achieved a silver rating and 7 received a gold rating. The highest ranking went to Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School in the School District of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.