This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
The Corrective Action II label can be misinterpreted as meaning that the school has shown no progress for five years or is extremely low performing. But there are indications of student progress and achievement at many of Philadelphia’s Corrective Action II schools:
- Eleven Corrective Action II schools are standouts on a new measure – they are meeting all the state-prescribed "growth standards" for their students in both reading and math. Growth in average student performance in reading and math is now measured on an annual basis in grades four through eight and compared to a state standard as part of PVAAS, the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System. In every grade tested at these 11 schools, the average gain students made in the past year met or exceeded the state’s growth standard.
The 11 schools: Ethan Allen, Bluford, Cooke, Cramp, Feltonville Arts and Sciences, Holme, Morrison, Pastorius, Shaw, Smedley, Webster. - The Corrective Action II schools as a group were making almost the same gains on the state’s value-added assessment as District schools overall. Counting all the tested grades, Corrective Action II schools made their PVAAS growth targets for reading in 70 percent of all cases. This is practically the same percentage as for all District schools, where 72 percent of the reading targets were met. In math, the Corrective Action II schools made 64 percent of their PVAAS growth targets. For all schools districtwide, 69 percent of growth targets were met in math.
- Thirteen Corrective Action II schools met all or all but one of their reading and math performance targets under NCLB this year, but fell just short of making AYP. The larger and more diverse the school, the more subgroups are measured and the more targets must be met in reading and math. Nearly all of these 13 schools failed to make AYP because their special education subgroup fell short of the target in either reading or math.
The 13 schools: Ethan Allen, Bache-Martin, Bluford, Carroll, Cramp, Feltonville Arts and Sciences, Holme, Hunter, Jackson, Roosevelt, Shaw, Southwark, Vaux. - Eight Corrective Action II schools have made AYP in two years out of the past four (indicated as "Making Progress"), but since they didn’t hit all their targets in two consecutive years, they still are in Corrective Action status.
The eight schools: Bache-Martin, Drew, Hunter, Jackson, Ludlow, Pennell, Smedley, Southwark. - Eleven Corrective Action II schools are above average for the District in reading proficiency, though none have a majority of their students scoring proficient. (Districtwide, just over 40 percent of students score proficient in reading.)
The 11 schools: Ethan Allen, Bache-Martin, Cramp, Feltonville Arts and Sciences, FitzPatrick, Holme, Jackson, Meehan, Northeast HS, Southwark, Washington HS.