Catasauqua Middle School is on a mission to ensure writing, science, reading and math scores improve.

CMS Principal Melissa Inselmann presented the middle school improvement plan to school board members April 1.

"That was an area that was a focus for us before," she said of improving science standardized test scores. "For us, only 50 percent of our students were proficient."

Inselmann said the middle school staff is currently analyzing student performance data by way of classroom diagnostic tools, Study Island Benchmarks and Dibels.

School board member Donald Panto commended Inselmann for her efforts in presenting the improvement plan, but said the time and effort involved is laborious.

"It's tough for staff to compile this [data]," he said. "It takes away from other staff time. It looks like the process is hard."

Inselmann said the school plans to concentrate more time on the sciences by adding more earth and space science courses to the curriculum.

"It's been a great process," Inselmann said. "The teachers are working together."

In the future, she said teachers will receive more professional development training and the school hopes to review the language arts program.

Inselmann also said teachers and administrators have kept students up to date with what the school is doing in terms of analyzing test scores and attempting to improve performance.

"It's really important our kids understand what we do at the middle school," she said.