Editor’s note: The following, focused on the Spring Cove School District, is the fifth installment of the series looking into how Blair County schools fared on the state assessment tests. The data for all Pennsylvania schools can be found at futurereadypa.org.

Spring Cove is not a school district that worries about assessment scores, but rather, emphasizes the success of students outside rigorous testing, according to Superintendent Betsy Baker.

“Sometimes scores fluctuate, and sometimes they don’t,” she said, which is why she doesn’t find assessment scores “representative of how successful our students are.”

“We have kids who excel in art and music, and none of that is tested” by academic assessments, she said.

Spring Cove School District’s enrollment is 1,577 students, according to the state’s Future Ready Index. Of that number, 52.6% are economically disadvantaged, 21.1% are special education, 2.8% are homeless, 1.7% are military connected and 2.4% are gifted students.

There are 89 students enrolled in partnering career and technical centers, and 48 students enrolled in cyber charter school.

Spring Cove Elementary

According to the Future Ready index, 337 students attend Spring Cove Elementary School.

Of that number, 51.3% are economically disadvantaged, 2.4% are English language learners, 15.7% are special education, 1.8% are homeless, 1.3% are military connected and 0.9% are gifted.

Martinsburg Elementary

At Martinsburg Elementary School, 51.4% of students placed proficient or advanced in the English Language Arts category, which was 1.5% above the state average.

In the mathematics section, 31.2% placed proficient or advanced, which was 10.5% below the state average.

Students had an academic growth score of 50 in English, also falling 20 points behind the state standard.

Yet, students in the mathematics category had an academic growth score of 76.0, exceeding the statewide standard by 6 points.

Science and biology assessment results show “wavier participation” on the state’s Future Ready Index website, meaning that scores were not publicly released, but participation was tracked.

Spring Cove Middle

At Spring Cove Middle School, 45.2% of students placed proficient or advanced in the English Language Arts section, 4.7% below the statewide average, while 38.1% of students placed proficient or advanced in the mathematics section, 3.6% below the statewide average.

Students had an academic growth score of 50 in English, falling 20 points behind the state standard.

In the mathematics category, students had an academic growth score of 52, 18 points behind the statewide standard.

Science and biology assessment results show “wavier participation” on the state’s Future Ready Index website, meaning that scores were not publicly released, but participation was tracked.

Middle school elementary principal Amy Miller said their overall building score is 59.5, which is a slight dip compared to last year’s score of 60.6.

However, she said test scores have increased in sixth grade math, seventh grade English, seventh grade math and eighth grade math.

The only score that slightly decreased was eighth grade English, she added.

“I am very pleased to see our scores trending upward,” she said. “While the PSSA assessments do not capture every aspect of student growth, it is encouraging to see improvement in both ELA and math.”

Reflecting on the past year, she said Appalachia IU8 consultants have been working to improve growth areas in their curriculum and instruction, and as a result, provided learning retention training to teachers.

“Research shows that students retain information best when instruction is engaging, spaced over time, and reinforced through active practice and meaningful repetition,” she said.

One program called “Throwback Thursday” mixes past learning with current learning, Miller said, so previous lessons remain fresh in the students’ minds.

With these strategies, she said students can build skill sets while “improving their opportunity to demonstrate proficiency on state assessment.”

Central High School

At the high school, 61.6% of students scored advanced or proficient in English Language Arts, which is 11.7% higher than the state average. Yet, it’s a 2.7% drop from last year’s scores.

As for mathematics, 39.7% of students scored proficient or advanced, 2% below the state average, but a 5.4% increase from last year.

Students had an academic growth score of 50 in English, also falling 20 points behind the state standard.

But, students in the mathematics category had an academic growth score of 76.0, exceeding the statewide standard by 6 points.

Science and biology assessment results show “wavier participation” on the state’s Future Ready Index website, meaning that scores were not publicly released, but participation was tracked.

High school principal Stephanie Thompson said there are incremental improvements from last year, so the school is “trending in a better direction.”

Taking a look at improvement areas, she said the school is using Math Nation and Get More Math programs to target and enrich math skills.

Next year looks “very positive,” she said, stating that their teachers are “super committed to reviewing data and drilling down to individual needs of students.”

Baker said Central’s scores continue to improve as staffing becomes more solid.

According to the state’s Future Ready Index, Central met the career standard benchmark by 97.7% during the 2024-25 school year, but performance decreased by 1.5% from last year’s numbers.

However, Central still outperformed the state average by 6.2%.

“Our kids are graduating in three years and are successful in college programs,” which are assets needed to succeed in the workplace, Baker said.

Thompson said they don’t put all of their eggs in one basket when it comes to weighing test scores, adding that the Keystone assessments are only one measure of success.

While some students perform below average on these tests, she added that they “seem to go above average in the world.”

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414