Update Re: Ratings Publication, February 18, 2021
In response to the cancellation of various state and local assessments, GreatPhillySchools will not update the ratings this year. The GreatPhillySchools academic ratings will remain unchanged and continued to be based on standardized testing outcomes from 2018-2019 since no new standardized testing data are available from SY 2019-20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to similar circumstances, the attendance and school safety ratings will also remain unchanged for the 2021-2022 School Year.
Data Sources for all GreatPhillySchools Ratings
Academic Ratings (Math, Reading, and Science Ratings)
- Public school ratings, including public charter schools, are derived from results on Pennsylvania System of School Assessment standardized tests (PSSAs) administered in Spring 2019 for elementary and middle schools.
- For public high schools, ratings are derived from the Keystone exams, administered during the 2018-2019 academic year.
- Catholic K-8 school ratings are derived from results on the TerraNova exam – a standardized, norm-referenced assessment. For Catholic High Schools ratings, the Standard Aptitude Test (SAT) is used.
Raw data measures the percentage of students performing in each of the four performance bands in for each subject, as measured by the most recently available standardized test data. For reference, the performance bands are as follows: (1) Below Basic; (2) Basic; (3) Proficient; and (4) Advanced. In most cases, academic ratings are not issued for non-Catholic private schools either because(1) they do not administer the PSSA, TerraNova, the NWEA Map or SAT; or (2) they have not provided their standardized test data to GPS.
Please note: No PASA/Keystone exam scores were included in the PSSA Proficiency data used to calculate GPS ratings.
Attendance Ratings: Public school ratings are derived from the School District of Philadelphia’s 2018-19 School Progress Report (SPR). Private school ratings are derived from attendance reports submitted by schools directly to GPS for the 2018-19 academic year.
School Incident Ratings: Public school ratings are derived from the total number of reportable incidents reported to the Pennsylvania Department of Education for the 2018-19 academic year. Private school ratings are derived from similar reports submitted by private schools directly to GPS for the 2018-19 academic year.
For public schools, a reportable incident includes one or more acts of misconduct, involving one or more offenders violating criteria defined Pennsylvania Act 26 of 1995. Reportable incidents include serious criminal violations such as rape and aggravated assault, as well as much broader types of violations such as bullying, fighting and minor altercations. It also includes behavior that violates a school’s educational mission, climate of respect, or jeopardizes the intent of the school to be free of aggression against persons or property, drugs, weapons, disruptions and disorder.
To view a reportable incident report for a particular public school, see the Pennsylvania Safe Schools Reports.
College Bound: Public school college matriculation rates are derived from the rates released by the School District of Philadelphia in the 2018-19 School Progress Report (SPR). These figures capture the percentage of annual graduates who enroll in any postsecondary institution in the first fall following their graduation date. GPS includes this data for private schools when available.
High Academic Growth: A green arrow symbol will be added to school profiles to highlight Philadelphia district and charter schools significantly exceeding the standard for academic growth over a three year period in math and reading, as measured by the Pennsylvania Value Added Assessment System (PVAAS). Growth is not factored into the GPS ratings. (Note: at this time, PDE does not issue PVAAS reports for private schools and therefore we are unable to determine which private schools are achieving strong student growth. Unfortunately, there is no system currently in place to reliably compare student achievement in public and private schools.)
Other Data: Other figures on GreatPhillySchools were provided by the schools themselves, the Pennsylvania Department of Education or by the School District of Philadelphia. These include demographic and enrollment information, as well as Advanced Placement participation rates and SAT scores.
Disclaimer: Data collection and analysis for GPS was managed by the Philadelphia School Partnership in consultation with Data Partners LLC, a data analytics consulting firm with significant experience analyzing and modeling student and school performance data. Guidance and assistance was also provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, McGraw-Hill’s CTB division (producer of the TerraNova) and Frontier 21 Solutions, an education research company.
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