Part three

“Without a doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted schools in various ways,” Dr. Michelle Schoeneberger, Northampton Area School District assistant superintendent, said.

Test results are only one factor to determine student academic proficiency, Schoeneberger said.

“Just focusing on the proficiency rate doesn’t tell you the whole story,” she added. “There’s context behind everything, and we also want to see student growth.”

Schoeneberger was lead presenter for the 2023-24 NASD academic report presented at the Dec. 2, 2024, NASD Board of Education meeting. Also presenting were NASD Secondary Curriculum Supervisor Scott Oste, NASD Elementary Curriculum Supervisor Katie Trach and Northampton Area High School Principal Luke Shafnisky. Schoeneberger is in her fourth year as NASD assistant superintendent and 11th year in the district.

The lingering effect of the COVID-19 pandemic seemed apparent in Keystone Exams scores, according to the academic report.

“In addition to COVID-19, the other impact on our Keystone scores has been the Act 158 Pennsylvania Department of Education Graduation Pathways,” Schoeneberger said in a Jan. 6 phone interview. “Act 158 PDE Graduation Pathways allow students to demonstrate their college and career readiness in various ways, not just passing the Keystone Exams. The student may not be proficient, but they gained a lot of ground in a year.”

Schoeneberger noted that, while the scores are important, they are “not the end-all and the be-all.” She said they also use other local assessments and evaluate their programs.

“We’re going to continue our efforts for improvement of our academic program,” Schoeneberger continued. “The Pennsylvania Value Added Assessment System measures student growth from one year to the next. The PVAAS scores for 2022-23 for math across the district, which were received in November 2023, were not good.”

She noted they switched to using Classroom Diagnostic Testing to provide targeted instruction in math classes in December 2023. They received results in November 2024, which showed definitive growth in math.

Schoeneberger said certain NASD results in Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests, also included in the academic report, were similar to statewide trends in English language arts, math and science.

“The eighth-grade class dropped pretty significantly in ELA, math and science,” she said. “Statewide, ELA proficiency is consistent across grade levels. The math proficiency levels decrease as you go up in grade levels. In science, fourth grade is much higher than eighth grade.

“These state assessments are a one-time snapshot of how a student does on one day on one test,” Schoeneberger added. “The local assessments that we give throughout the school year — that’s more important in terms of helping students to grow and achieve academically. The career mentorship opportunities have been increased in the last two years. Students can see how what they learn in school is applicable to the real world.”

The 2023-24 NASD academic report includes student demographic information, based on futurereadypa.org, which is the PDE collection of school progress measures.

According to the academic report, the enrollment by race/ethnicity in NASD is: white, 78.2%; Hispanic, 15.5%; Black, 3.1%; two or more races, 2.8%; Asian, 0.5%; American Indian/Alaskan native, 0%; and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, 0%.

According to the academic report, for the 2023-24 school year compared to the 2022-23 school year, the percent of enrollment of economically disadvantaged students increased 45.4%, special education students increased 19%, English Language Learner students increased 1.7%, and homeless students increased 1%.

Part one in this series, which looked at Keystone Exam results grades 7-11 for algebra I, literature and biology, was published Dec. 12, 2024, in Northampton Press. Part two, which looked at PSSA results in grades 3-8 in English language arts, mathematics and science, was published Jan. 2. Both parts are available on the Northampton Press website.

The 2023-24 NASD academic report is on the NASD website at nasdschools.org.

The board of education next meets 6:30 p.m. Jan. 13 in the NAHS auditorium, 1619 Laubach Ave.