Carbon Career and Technical Institute continued its reign as top area school in the 2015-16 School Performance Profile rankings recently released by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

It is the fourth consecutive year that PDE has calculated and released the scores based heavily on state assessment scores, but also includes college readiness tests, industry standards-based assessments, graduation, promotion, and attendance rates, as well as evidence of offering rigorous courses as other factors in the calculation.CCTI raised its score from 88.4 to 91.2, also marking the third straight year it has had the highest score in the state for career and technical schools."Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our students, parents, staff, joint operating committee and all stakeholders within the community, CCTI has achieved this commendable ranking," said Dave Reinbold, CCTI executive director, and Principal Brent Borzak in a joint statement."Administrators and staff in our district have begun to review the data and calculations. Per our goals and objectives, we continue to study the elements that are used to determine our score, and develop plans to improve achievement and raise the school score as much as possible. We revised our curricula, master schedule, and delivery systems, and work as a team to maintain our high standards for grading, attendance and work ethic."Score delayPDE released the scores on Oct. 13 but pulled them back shortly after that, citing a data processing error confined to the district- and school-level Keystone Exam growth calculations."These scores, in turn, are part of the School Performance Profile growth measures," said Pedro Rivera, state secretary of education. "The data in question was supplied by SAS, the department's contractor for Pennsylvania Value Added Assessment System reporting for Pennsylvania's Local Education Agencies."Updated scores were released Friday with high schools and a few middle schools affected."Communities across Pennsylvania depend on the accuracy of the data PDE provides about students and schools. There is no room for error," Education Secretary Pedro A. Rivera said."The Department takes issues like these very seriously and launched an aggressive response to verify and correct the data, to maintain the credibility of the department with the people we serve."About 2,900 schools received building level scores this year, and 625 schools had a change from the score posted on Oct. 13.Other top scoresAlso making a large leap was Palmerton Area High School, jumping from 73.4 to 84.2.At the Palmerton school board meeting earlier this month, residents and teachers in the district lauded the efforts of students and Principal Paula Husar."I think it's very impressive that Palmerton's score exceeded that of all but four Lehigh County schools, many of which are bigger than them, including Parkland," said Audrey Larvey, retired teacher and Palmerton resident.Amy Morgan, a junior high environmental science teacher, said that the school's score two years ago was 58.4 and has increased 43 percent since that point."Contributing to that remarkable rise is that 73.2 percent of students taking the Keystone Exam in math scored advanced or proficient, 81.5 percent in biology and 86.6 percent in literature," Morgan said. "It's a big accomplishment."Other top scoring schools include Pleasant Valley Intermediate School at 86.0, Towamensing Elementary at 81.5, and Tamaqua High School at 82.1."The increase in the Tamaqua Area High School's SPP score is attributed to the hard work and dedication of the faculty, staff, and students," said Principal Thomas McCabe."It is great to see the improvements our students have made in almost all areas of the SPP. After last year's SPP, our faculty continued to analyze student achievement and implement new strategies to promote student success; however there were no drastic changes made to curriculum or delivery."While happy, McCabe knows a number doesn't define his school."We have a caring, passionate and professional faculty along with the best students in the area," he said. "The administration, faculty, and students are constantly working to make TAHS and the community a better place. That is what we are most proud of at Tamaqua Area High School."New standardThough in the past the state considered a score of 70 or above was considered to be a passing grade, no benchmark was announced this year."Schools, teachers and communities are working hard to prepare Pennsylvania's students to graduate college and be career ready, and to be able to compete in the 21st century job market,"Rivera said."The SPP is one indicator of how schools are supporting student learning, however the SPP uses a formula that is heavily dependent on standardized test scores. At Gov. Wolf's direction, the department has been engaged in a dialogue with stakeholders for over a year to determine how to make the SPP a better, more holistic measure."Only high schools received a School Performance Profile last year, while other schools got a one-year pause.The pause was instituted for schools that administered the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, which was newly aligned to the state's core standards."The process of transitioning to the new, more rigorous PA Core Standards is ongoing, and schools, administrators, and teachers have been working diligently to design curriculum, update lesson plans, and align learning tools to the new standards," Rivera said."As these improved resources are instituted in our classrooms, student performance on the PSSA is anticipated to grow."Area School Performance Profile ScoresPalmerton High School-84.2Palmerton Junior High School 54.3Parkside Education Center-75.5S.S. Palmer Elementary-69.0Towamensing Elementary-81.5Lehighton Area High School-71.3Lehighton Area Middle School-75.7East Penn Elementary School-76.2Franklin Elementary School-68.5Mahoning Elementary School-65.9Shull-David Elementary School-75.8Jim Thorpe Area High School-67.6LB Morris Elementary School-61.1Penn-Kidder Campus-69.6Panther Valley Junior/Senior High School-64.6Panther Valley Intermediate School-70.3Panther Valley Elementary School-69.9Weatherly High School-71.1Weatherly Area Middle School-67.1Weatherly Area Elementary School-68.3Carbon Career and Technical Institute-91.2Tamaqua High School-82.1Tamaqua Middle School-65.9Tamaqua Elementary School-69.3West Penn Township Elementary School-70.3Northern Lehigh High School-74.1Northern Lehigh Middle School-57.0Peters Elementary School-68.9Slatington Elementary School-63.1Pleasant Valley High School-76.2Pleasant Valley Middle School-70.6Pleasant Valley Intermediate School-86.0Pleasant Valley Elementary School-68.0