Standard & Poor's Statewide Insights on PA Schools Provides Objective Data for Statewide Discussions on Improving Schools

Report shows some schools beating the odds, others using resources more effectively

   Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services (SES) has released its first Statewide Insights report for Pennsylvania, an extensive analysis of three years of financial, academic and contextual information on school performance and administration.

   The 50-page report can be found on
www.ses.standardandpoors.com <http://www.ses.standardandpoors.com> and is available to the public free of charge. It contains analysis and commentary on spending patterns, student results and related matters for school years ending 1997 to 1999. While helping to identify trends, the report will also become a benchmark for future studies on Pennsylvania schools. Statewide Insights also illuminates policy considerations for decision-makers.

   "The education community will be able to use Statewide Insights to better understand and then act on problems and opportunities, such as the closing of achievement gaps and the understanding of the relationship between spending and results," said Susan Fuhrman, dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania and a member the National Advisory Board for SES.

   Statewide Insights provides several key findings, including:

•  Across the state, 165 schools are beating the odds. Such schools are achieving above-average test scores despite enrolling an above-average proportion of low-income students.
• Thirty-one districts are beating the odds. Of those, seven have done so for three consecutive years. Those seven districts are: Apollo-Ridge, Central Cambria, Central Greene, Northern Bedford County, Wallenpaupack Area, Wayne Highlands and Windber Area.
• Money alone is not the answer. Of the districts with above-average PSSA scores, 60% had below-average spending, an indication that achievement is determined in part by how money is spent, not simply how much money is spent.
• Significant achievement gaps exist, even in districts where overall performance levels are comparatively high. While 59% of Asian students and 57% percent of white students scored above the state median on the PSSA, 21% of Hispanics and 17% of blacks did so. The same pattern of disparity was seen between economically non-disadvantaged students and disadvantaged students.

   The ways in which the education community uses objective data reveal the value of Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services. In Pennsylvania, superintendents use SES for a variety of purposes, from learning about the relationship between spending and student results to adopting best practices used in other districts.

   The public is eager to have school data, according to web site usage statistics. In less than a year, the SES web site - which contains data for both Pennsylvania and Michigan - has had more than 500,000 visitors who have collectively viewed 13.3 million web pages. In fact, logins for Pennsylvania represent 47% of web site users-a significant finding considering that data for Pennsylvania has been online for six months, compared to 10 months for Michigan. The largest groups of Pennsylvania users are parents (39% of total users), teachers (19%), administrators (11%) and taxpayers (10%).

   Over the next three years, Standard & Poor's will continue to assess education performance on the state, district and school levels. A new round of district reports and data will be released later this month.

   Other information collected and analyzed on Pennsylvania schools can also be found on www.ses.standardandpoors.com <http://www.ses.standardandpoors.com> and is available to the public free of charge.

   Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, provides independent financial information, analytical services, and credit ratings to the world's financial markets. For more information, visit www.standardandpoors.com. Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a leading information services provider meeting worldwide needs in education, business, finance, the professions, and government. The corporation employs 16,500 people located in more than 400 offices in 30 countries.