Preliminary results from the PSSA tests indicate nine of 11 Parkland schools made Adequate Yearly Progress for the No Child Left Behind program this year.

In a presentation to the board at the Aug. 21 meeting, Marge Evans, coordinator of data assessment, reported Ironton Elementary and Parkland High School did not meet AYP.

Ironton received a warning because its special education students who have Individualized Education Plans, did not meet the AYP target.

The high school was given a School Improvement II designation due to the inability of IEP special education math students and an economically disadvantaged reading group to meet AYP.

Superintendent Richard Sniscak commented on the findings.

"This shows the punitive aspect of NCLB and the lack of fairness in the system which expects the same performance from the least capable and the most capable students," Sniscak said.

The high school received a warning in 2010 due to failure of IEP students to meet math performance targets and a School Improvement I rating last year because math performance scores of the economically disadvantaged group were not sufficient for AYP.

Evans explained every sub-group in a school must meet the AYP targets. The sub-groups are: students with IEP, special ed.; English language learners; economically disadvantaged; and race, which is broken down into six categories.

If any of those sub-groups has at least 40 students, it is analyzed for AYP.

Evans stated many school districts and even some Parkland buildings do not have the 40 or more in a sub-group to be given an AYP rating.

Sniscak noted the benchmarks for AYP increase every year, presenting a greater challenge.

Nevertheless, the district met 210 of 213 targets throughout its 11 schools, said the superintendent.

The 2012 academic targets set by the federal government for NCLB increased from 72 percent to 81 percent in reading and 67 percent to 78 percent in math over the previous year.

The percentage refers to the students who performed at the advanced or proficient level in each of the PSSA content areas and in each grade tested.

Next year the reading increases to 91 percent and math to 89 percent. In 2014, 100 percent of students tested will be expected to meet AYP targets.

Board member Roberta Marcus offered her thoughts on the matter.

"There's no way any school district can get to 100 percent," Marcus said. "It's set up for failure."

Looking at a grade level chart of 2011 and 2012 results, board member Mark Hanichak said many of the percentages are slightly lower in 2012.

"Are we the district happy with those numbers?" Hanichak asked.

Evans said she will have final data broken apart by building and cohort (a group of students followed from grade to grade) in September.

"We continue to see where our areas of strength and weakness are," Evans said.

"We use the data as motivation to improve," Sniscak said.

Board member David Kennedy added his observation.

"This district never had an issue making AYP," Kennedy said. "We want to see that we're growing as a district."