At the Oct. 31 Salisbury Township School District curriculum meeting, principals and assistant principals from each school in the district presented the board with the results of PSSA and Keystone tests.

Pennsylvania System of School Assessments are given to students in grades three through eight and Keystone testing is given to high school students. Both tests take a snapshot view of how students perform in fields of math, English and science skills – the latter beginning in fourth grade.

Salisbury has examined their scores and formulated detailed plans for improvement.

Heather Morningstar, principal at Salisbury High school, reported a literature proficiency score on the Keystone exam of 92.65 for senior classmen, an increase of 6 percent from last year and the highest test score in literature ever achieved.

“This year’s senior class is a banner group,” Morningstar said, but noted because the test compares scores from the prior year’s students at Salisbury and not against the performance of other schools, achieving increased scores becomes more difficult at a higher level of proficiency.

Test scores in biology improved dramatically, nearly 15 percent since 2015, and 21 percent since 2014, and are an “area of particular pride” as cited by Morningstar who credited the marked improvement to science teacher Megan Basile. Basile headed the effort to improve the test scores, “individualizing remediation efforts for a lot of kids” and the school is “on track to close the gap” in this field in six years.

Morningstar explained 90 to 95 percent of the students take biology in their freshman year and then move into other fields of science, making a proficiency score in biology a challenge for upper classmen. To achieve such a vast improvement is remarkable.

“I don’t know of anywhere else where we are seeing that kind of growth across any of the schools.”

The proficiency score for Algebra I was 74.26, an increase of just over 7 percent from last year.

Assistant Principal Brian Muschlitz said an issue the school is facing pertains to the low scores of special education students, reported at 15 percent for the subject. Though the subject shows an improvement of 2.45 percent since last year, the school is not on track to close the gap.

“According to the statistics, we should be at 76.94 percent.”

In order to achieve that level of proficiency, the school would have to see an improvement of 3 percent over the next three years.

Muschlitz said the school has closed the gap for underperforming students.

“We should be at 51.25 percent; however, we are at 57.14 percent, exceeding the average of where the school should be.”

Many measures, including using Falcon periods for additional testing, are in place to improve the scores.

Salisbury Middle School Principal Ken Parliman reported similar results to those at the high school. The school, according to Parliman, is “spending a great deal of time looking at what data is available, how to use the data and the information for remediation and classroom instruction.”

“We can reach students who are struggling by providing them with strategies to solve problems, analyzing them together to provide better critical thinking skills.”

All grades at SMS reflected achievement and growth, but not performance. The school remains below the state average for performance for sixth graders; however, the proficient and advanced students exceeded the average for English across the board. As a solution to improving test scores, the school will offer after-school programs to focus on math and non-fiction reading skills and the faculty will identify the specific students who need assistance and reach out to both students and parents.

At the elementary level, the fourth grade students met or exceeded growth in math, English and science, according to Harry S Truman Elementary School Principal Zach Brem. In addition, other grades, including underperforming students showed improvement. Still, the test scores are below the state level in English and mathematics.

Changes in demographics and transient students present challenges for improved test scores. The school is addressing the challenges by studying all data presented, using additional assessments, utilizing the Envisions program for math, as well as adding writing workshops, modified schedules and staff to assist the faculty.

Changing demographics and a 9 percent increase in enrollment at Western Salisbury Elementary School have created similar issues to those at HST, Principal Grace Hartman said and the two schools work closely together to address the challenges.

While there has been growth and progress with improved scores for math and English, WSE has not met the state’s suggested progress, though overall scores at the school are either at, above, or just slightly below the state average. The school has a “very high percentage of proficient and advanced students; however, the state had projected an increase of 2 percent in the scores” which was not met, according to Hartman.

WSE is “focusing on professional development, intervention and book studies” in addition to other methods, similar to those at HST to achieve greater growth.

WSE concentrates on the student as a whole and has several plans in place to address students with emotional or behavioral needs who may struggle with testing. The school carries out behavior studies several times throughout the year, comparing the results to a typical norm of behavior for a similar child in a different school.

There are several levels of support used when results are indicative of an issue including intervention, guidance counseling, parent conferences and community resources to help students and their families. Hartman remarked 17 percent of the elementary students had been touched by some sort of trauma in their young lives.

Hartman noted it is important to also focus on the “culture of learning outside of PSSA testing,” stating, “Western Salisbury students love to work in the community, building responsibility and creating concern in the student. It’s important to reach for the balance within the student.”

In other business, Supervisor of Special Education Elena Steidinger discussed the special education department at the district and presented an overview of the recent compliance monitoring conducted by the state.

Every five years, the district carries out the compliance testing. In May of 2015, three state compliance monitors came on-site for two and a half days to review policies, data, files and speak to faculty, students and parents. Salisbury compiled a 151-page facilitated self-assessment of the department to present to the monitors.

Although there were some issues that needed to be addressed, the district received commendations from the state with regard to caseloads, facilities, PSSA participation, out-of-district placements and school visitations.

The board congratulated the department on a job well done.