Editor’s note: The Pennsylvania Department of Education has announced the results of assessments for last school year, and while results of the tests and the state’s Future Ready Index were mixed with strong attendance and math gains, there were overall decreases in performance in language arts, literature and biology, according to the reports.

The following, focused on Altoona Area School District, is the first in a series of articles about the results as they pertain to each school district.

When it comes to evaluating state assessment results, Altoona Area School District officials take everything with a grain of salt, Superintendent Brad Hatch said, noting officials use several indicators for success and everything is relative.

According to Hatch, Altoona Area is outperforming other school districts that don’t have the same socioeconomic status — poverty levels and diversity challenges — as the district by “quite a bit.”

Even within Altoona Area — the largest school district in Blair County — each building has its own unique demographics and challenges that need to be considered when evaluating data, Hatch noted.

“You get into the dangerous when you start comparing one to the other,” Hatch said. “Scores are not everything to me.”

For example, Hatch said, three of the district’s 10 schools — McAuliffe Heights Program at Irving Elementary, Baker Elementary and the Altoona Area Junior High School — were recognized by the U.S. News and World Report as high-performing schools this year as a result of their state assessment data.

Essentially, those schools are in the top 40% of performing schools in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Hatch said, noting McAuliffe Heights had a building score of 80.9 while Pleasant Valley Elementary had a building score of 80.6, but the school wasn’t recognized this year.

Hatch said building scores combine a school’s raw assessment data with its graduation and attendance rates, college and career readiness objectives and Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System growth data.

Building scores are adjusted based on factors like the number of students who place advanced on assessments and a district’s aid ratio, Hatch said, noting Altoona Area’s scores are adjusted because of the district’s high poverty rate.

According to the state’s Future Ready index, 61.2% of Altoona Area students are economically disadvantaged; 3.7% are homeless and 25.7% are special education students.

While district officials are proud of the schools that were recognized, there are other schools that are achieving great accomplishments as well, Hatch said.

“In general, our grade level to grade level comparisons when you look at other school districts or the state at large, we are at or above state average in pretty much all areas,” Hatch said, noting the district is “about average” when compared to other schools in the Appalachia Intermediate Unit 8.

Pleasant Valley Elementary

According to the state’s Future Ready index, 47.4% of students at Pleasant Valley Elementary School were proficient or advanced in English language arts during the 2024-25 state assessments, 2.5% below the statewide average.

In mathematics, 40.2% were proficient or advanced, 1.5% below the statewide average.

In both subjects, students had an academic growth score of 100, meaning students at the school achieved the highest level of academic growth from the previous year, based off the state’s historical data and projections for the school.

Pleasant Valley Elementary School has a student population of 439 in grades kindergarten through fifth.

Penn Lincoln Elementary

According to the state’s Future Ready index, 25.3% of students at Penn Lincoln Elementary School were proficient or advanced in English language arts during the 2024-25 state assessments, 24.6% below the statewide average.

In mathematics, 19.9% were proficient or advanced, 21.8% below the statewide average.

In both subjects, students had an academic growth score of 62, meaning students at the school achieved the next-to-highest level of academic growth from the previous year, based off the state’s historical data and projections for the school.

Penn Lincoln Elementary School has a student population of 313 in grades kindergarten through fifth.

Mowrie A. Ebner Elementary

According to the state’s Future Ready index, 38.7% of students at Mowrie A. Ebner were proficient or advanced in English language arts during the 2024-25 state assessments, 11.2% below the statewide average.

In mathematics, 33.5% were proficient or advanced, 8.2% below the statewide average.

The school had an academic growth score of 73 in English language arts and 74.9 in mathematics, meaning students at the school achieved the next-to-highest level of academic growth in both subjects from the previous year.

Mowrie A. Ebner Elementary School has a student population of 349 in grades kindergarten through fifth.

Logan Elementary

According to the state’s Future Ready index, 28.9% of students at Logan Elementary were proficient or advanced in English language arts during the 2024-25 state assessments, 21% below the statewide average.

In mathematics, 42.7% were proficient or advanced, 1% above the statewide average.

The school had an academic growth score of 50 in English language arts and 65 in mathematics, meaning students at the school achieved an average level of academic growth in English language arts and the next-to-highest level of academic growth in mathematics from the previous year.

Logan Elementary School has a student population of 428 in grades kindergarten through fifth.

Juniata Gap Elementary

According to the state’s Future Ready index, 50.4% of students at Juniata Gap Elementary were proficient or advanced in English language arts during the 2024-25 state assessments, 0.5% above the statewide average.

In mathematics, 52.2% were proficient or advanced, 10.5% above the statewide average.

The school had an academic growth score of 73 in English language arts and 90 in mathematics, meaning students at the school achieved next-to-highest level of academic growth in English language arts and the highest level of academic growth in mathematics from the previous year.

Juniata Gap Elementary School has a student population of 490 in grades kindergarten through fifth.

Juniata Elementary

According to the state’s Future Ready index, 48.9% of students at Juniata Elementary were proficient or advanced in English language arts during the 2024-25 state assessments, 1% below the statewide average.

In mathematics, 57.5% were proficient or advanced, 15.8% above the statewide average.

The school had an academic growth score of 62 in English language arts and 60 in mathematics, meaning students at the school achieved next-to-highest level of academic growth in English language arts and an average level of growth in mathematics from the previous year.

Juniata Elementary School has a student population of 470 in grades kindergarten through fifth.

Irving Elementary

According to the state’s Future Ready index, 64.6% of students at Juniata Elementary were proficient or advanced in English language arts during the 2024-25 state assessments, 14.7% above the statewide average.

In mathematics, 74.8% were proficient or advanced, 33.1% above the statewide average.

The school had an academic growth score of 72 in English language arts and 82 in mathematics, meaning students at the school achieved next-to-highest level of academic growth in both subjects from the previous year.

Irving Elementary School has a student population of 267 in grades kindergarten through fifth.

Baker Elementary

According to the state’s Future Ready index, 64.9% of students at Juniata Elementary were proficient or advanced in English language arts during the 2024-25 state assessments, 15% above the statewide average.

In mathematics, 66.9% were proficient or advanced, 25.2% above the statewide average.

In both subjects, students had an academic growth score of 100, meaning students at the school achieved the highest level of academic growth from the previous year, based off the state’s historical data and projections for the school.

Baker Elementary School has a student population of 263 in grades kindergarten through fifth.

Junior High School

According to the state’s Future Ready index, 43.4% of students at the Altoona Area Junior High School were proficient or advanced in English language arts during the 2024-25 state assessments, 6.5% below the statewide average.

In mathematics, 31.7% were proficient or advanced, 10% below the statewide average.

In both subjects, students had an academic growth score of 50, meaning students achieved an average level of academic growth in both subjects from the previous year.

The Altoona Area Junior High School has a student population of 1,578 in grades sixth through eighth.

High School

According to the state’s Future Ready index, 51.5% of students at the Altoona Area High School were proficient or advanced in English language arts during the 2024-25 state assessments, 1.6% above the statewide average.

In mathematics, 36.7% were proficient or advanced, 5% below the statewide average.

In both subjects, students had an academic growth score of 50, meaning students achieved an average level of academic growth in both subjects from the previous year.

The Altoona Area High School has a student population of 2,255 in grades nine through 12.

Always ways to improve

“There’s always ways that we can get better,” Hatch said.

One of the things district officials are looking at this year is how they can individualize the learning experience for every student, Hatch said.

The biggest indicators for students’ success are their attendance and their teacher’s quality of instruction, Hatch said, noting paternal involvement in the educational process is also a factor.

“That’s what it is — the quality of education, the quality of instruction and the amount of time that you’re there,” Hatch said. “So, again, we continue to really emphasize student attendance.”

Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education Mark Harrington said improving student attendance was a goal for every principal in the district this year.

Officials are calling home more often this year and holding the students accountable if they’re not in school, Harrington said.

“If we can get our students in school every day, they’re going to learn,” Harrington said. “Our teachers are going to be able to help our students improve on all of their academic goals and make them better people and better students.”

Haley Fleegle, assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and elementary programs, said elementary student support specialists introduced a Power of Presence program this year, which has boosted student attendance and engagement so far, she said.

“We’re at a record number of low student attendance improvement plans at this point in the school year, so it’s working,” Fleegle said, noting the students already had their first reward, an ice cream party.

“We’re trying to create connectedness to the school and get kids excited about being here,” Fleegle said.

Hatch said Altoona Area officials are going to find every creative solution that they can to help students be successful.

In addition to teachers working with students individually, Hatch said the district piloted a couple intervention programs this year to improve students’ scores on future state assessments.

In preparation for the spring, when assessments will be taken online for the first time, the high school took the state-approved Firefly assessment, Harrington said, adding students used the same platform that they will use for the online testing.

“It kind of gives our teachers a snapshot of how prepared the students are for the Keystone literature or the Keystone biology exam,” Harrington said, noting junior high school students are scheduled to take the Firefly this winter.

Hatch said a teacher’s job is never done because there’s always room for improvement.

If students can walk out of Altoona Area High School upon graduation and have the capacity to do what they want in life — pursue continued training, go to college, enter the workforce or enlist in the military — then the district’s teachers and administrators were successful, Hatch said.

“If we get every kid to the point where they’re able to walk out of our doors and say, ‘I have the capability and the skillset to be able to do what I want to do,’ then I think we all celebrate that. That’s what we’re looking for,” Hatch said.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.