All four buildings in the Northern Lehigh School District are in good academic standing.

Further proof of that was evident when Assistant Superintendent Karen Nicholas shared the results of the Pennsylvania School Performance Profile with the school board recently."We are happy to announce we have no schools in school improvement," Nicholas said. "That means they are making good progress."Nicholas said the scores at each building were as follows: 77.8 percent at the high school, 72.3 percent at the middle school, 75.6 percent at Slatington Elementary, and 80.7 percent at Peters Elementary.That adds up to an average score of 76.6 between the four buildings, she said.Nicholas said that building principals will give a more detailed report on the results at next month's board meeting.Superintendent Michael Michaels said the results are encouraging."We've been working very diligently to improve our test scores," Michaels said. "We're trying to turn out a great, well-rounded citizen."Michaels then heaped praise on Nicholas, as well as the teachers and students for their hard work.Nicholas added, "I think our scores reflect what's going on here at Northern Lehigh.""We really have hard working teachers and students," she said. "We're really proud of our teachers, students and administrators who do a great job."Board President Edward Hartman offered more words of encouragement."Keep it up, guys," Hartman said. "You're doing a great job."School Performance Profiles is the measure of how well students are learning, and has replaced Adequate Yearly Progress, which was part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.The purpose of the School Performance Profile is to provide the public with comprehensive information about the academic performance of public schools; to satisfy requirements of Pennsylvania's approved federal No Child Left Behind waiver; and to be used as a required component of Pennsylvania's new educator evaluation system, which was signed into law in 2012.It also tracks how much a student grows academically from one school year to the next, as shown by the PVAAS; graduation, attendance and promotion rates; and how a school focuses on increasing the achievement of all students.Pennsylvania's federal NCLB waiver eliminated the AYP designation for each school building and school district. The School Performance Profile, which uses multiple measures of student achievement, took its place and is used to measure academic progress of all public schools.Nicholas noted that the scores can be accessed by clicking a link on the Pennsylvania Department of Education website,

http://www.pde.state.pa.us.Other businessThe board:• Accepted the retirement resignation of Connie Andrews from her position as cook's helper at Slatington Elementary School, effective the end of the work day Dec. 23. She will retire after 26 years of service to the district.• Accepted the retirement resignation of Dorothea Curran from her position as cook's helper at Slatington Elementary School, effective Dec. 31. She will retire after 11 years of service to the district.• Approved Arielle Dentith and Kyle Turner (elementary K-6), as substitute teachers for the 2014-15 school year. Turner's appointment is pending verification of missing personnel file items.• Approved Ann Marie Belo, Jessica Smoyer and Turner as substitute secretary/aides for the 2014-15 school year.• Approved Jon Rinker, Belo and Turner as substitute custodians for the 2014-15 school year at the 2014-15 substitute rate.• Approved Dawn Martinez, Belo, Smoyer and Turner as substitute cafeteria workers for the 2014-15 school year at the 2014-15 substitute rate.