Ever since the Commonwealth moved to the PA Core Standards, schools, administrators, and teachers have been working to design curriculum, update lesson plans, and align learning tools to the new standards.

This week, the PA Department of Education released the 2016 School Performance Profile (SPP) scores following a year-long pause in their calculation to mitigate the unintended impacts of changes in student performance on the more rigorous PA System of School Assessments (PSSA). Consequently, this year's SPP scores are the first to reflect student performance on the new more rigorous PSSA.

Of the four high schools in our local area, in which scored more than 80 points, Honesdale High School tops the local list with 87.5.

"Schools, teachers, and communities are working hard to prepare Pennsylvania's students to graduate college and career ready, and to be able to compete in the 21st century job market," Secretary Pedro A. Rivera said. "The SPP is one indicator of how schools are supporting student learning, however the SPP uses a formula that is heavily dependent on standardized test scores. At Governor Wolf's direction, the department has been engaged in a dialogue with stakeholders for over a year to determine how to make the SPP a better, more holistic measure."

"The process of transitioning to the new, more rigorous PA Core Standards is ongoing, and," Rivera said. "As these improved resources are instituted in our classrooms, student performance on the PSSA is anticipated to grow.

"Improved student performance on standardized assessments will have a positive impact on future SPP scores under the existing formula."