On Jan. 27, the Salisbury Township School Board Curriculum and Technology Committee held its monthly meeting in the Salisbury High School library. At this time, building leaders from each of the district schools presented on the results of standardized testing from the previous school year.

The first to present was Salisbury High School’s Assistant Principal, Brian Muschlitz.

For Literature Keystone Performance, SHS students tested at 74 percent proficiency, which is more than 10 percent above the state average. Individualized Education Program students saw an improvement over the prior year’s averages; however, they are still not hitting the goal set by the school.

The Biology Keystone Performance was at 63 percent, with no group within the school meeting the established goal. Math Keystone Performance for high school students sat at 62 percent which comes in at 16.7 percent above the state average.

Going forward, the high school staff plans to continue to use benchmark and Keystone results to target specific student needs, as well as work with individual department chairs to refine remediation plans and assist students in outlier groups who did not meet the interim testing goals.

For the middle school, Dr. Ken Parliman, principal, presented the results for Salisbury students in grades six through eight.

Overall, Pennsylvania System of School Assessment results indicated in English Language Arts and science, all grade levels were growing on target with the three-year growth standard set forth, and in math, seventh graders achieved this benchmark.

There were challenges, however, marked by math results coming in below the state average in all grades and for historically underperforming subgroups in the school, a high percentage (60 percent in ELA and 80 percent in math) were not reaching proficiency.

Parliman outlined plans for new approaches to math learning, including innovative programs and alternative structures recognizing that one size does not necessarily fit all for learning, which may help the students achieve the standards in place.

Zachary Brem, Harry S Truman Elementary School principal and Grace Hartman, Western Salisbury Elementary School principal also presented on the test results for their schools.

Brem reported PSSA results showed for students at HST the number of proficient/advanced scoring students was 4.8 percent above the district average in math and 15 percent above the state average in science. However, the number of ELA proficient/advanced scoring students fell at about 3 percent below the state average.

Another challenge pointed out was fewer English language learner and special education students scored in the proficient/advanced range when compared to other subgroups. Brem spoke about the Title I after school tutoring program at HST that would be used to give students stronger foundations in areas not meeting standards.

Brem also mentioned continuing professional development to help staff identify where improvements could be made and applied in classrooms and developing further curriculum alignment through a math curriculum committee and implementation of a grade level pacing guide for math.

Hartman said for WSE all grades and in all testing areas students that were not members of any subgroups performed above the state average.

In areas where subgroups fell short of target scores, there were notable challenges specifically in the social/emotional realm.

For the next steps to continue students’ growth and facilitate those who may have come in shy of district or state targets, the WSE staff plans to offer curriculum-based solutions to address weaknesses and provide support.