Panther Valley is still adjusting to new standardized tests that include common core standards.

The district is working toward better scores, officials said.The district's principals recently shared their analysis of the district's 2015-16 School Performance Profiles, which are based largely on student performance on standardized tests."Our staff and students worked very hard last year toward making some progress and propelling our scores upward," Superintendent Dennis Kergick said. "It wasn't an easy task, and students and staff should be recognized for their efforts."Kergick shared his belief that students are forced to take too many standardized tests, and that they don't always give the full picture of a student's achievement.He pointed out that the state has spent $1 billion proctoring the test since 2008."A lot of schools and a lot of kids are taking tests over multiple days. Too much testing is going on in my humble opinion," he said.Last year, the state did not include scores from the PSSA test - given in grades 3-8 - in the performance profiles, because the addition of common core meant that the scores would be much lower across the board.Junior/Senior High School Principal Joseph Gunnels said that the common core definitely had an effect on his school's scores this year."Last year, we were told we would see significant decreases in the scores due to common core standards, and we did. It was a significantly more challenging exam," Gunnels said.Intermediate and elementary school principals said that they are making changes to better prepare their students for the test.Intermediate Principal Lisa Mace said that her school moved to a block schedule for language arts and math in order to provide more time for instruction.New Panther Valley Elementary Principal Robert Palazzo said that the district has a lot of great programs, and using them efficiently will go a long way to improving scores."We need to just survey what we have, figure out what we have, how we're using it, and how we can use it better," Palazzo said.