Education administrators love numbers. And I don't mean 1+2=3. I mean NUMBERS.
The drive to measure every possible kind of academic performance -- as well as the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act -- means that the state education department compiles stacks of data on our schoolchildren and our schools.
That's cool. We know a lot of you like to dive into those numbers. That's why we're regularly creating searchable forms of things like test results and putting them on our web site so you can go through them whenever you want.
Education reporter Nickie Dobo has, on her Education Today site, searchable forms where you can find:
One thing we've learned in reporting on these numbers is there are always stories behind them -- why some are high, why some are low, and so on. (See Nickie's stories on the countywide SAT scores, for example).
It pays not to take the numbers as a final measure, but as a tool toward understanding how your school (or your student) is doing. If you look through the numbers and have questions you want us to answer, by all means get in touch.
The drive to measure every possible kind of academic performance -- as well as the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act -- means that the state education department compiles stacks of data on our schoolchildren and our schools.
That's cool. We know a lot of you like to dive into those numbers. That's why we're regularly creating searchable forms of things like test results and putting them on our web site so you can go through them whenever you want.
Education reporter Nickie Dobo has, on her Education Today site, searchable forms where you can find:
- Your school's average SAT scores for the past five years. This is the first time we've been able to look at SAT scores over time.
- Your school's PSSA scores.
- Your school's scores on the PSSA science test.
- Your school's scores on the PSSA writing test.
- And even your school district's property tax rates from 2006-2010.
One thing we've learned in reporting on these numbers is there are always stories behind them -- why some are high, why some are low, and so on. (See Nickie's stories on the countywide SAT scores, for example).
It pays not to take the numbers as a final measure, but as a tool toward understanding how your school (or your student) is doing. If you look through the numbers and have questions you want us to answer, by all means get in touch.
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