New rigorous standards on Pennsylvania’s assessment tests have been both a blessing and a curse for area school districts.

Tests such as the Pennsylvania System of School Assessments and the Keystone Exams play a large part in highly publicized School Performance Profile scores, which essentially rank each school in the state and increase pressure on students and staff.In Lehighton Area School District, however, officials said the scores have fostered increased communication between teachers and administrators on different styles of teaching, intervention methods and other ways of getting students the individualized instruction they need to keep from falling behind.Tim Tkach, Lehighton’s director of curriculum, instruction and grants, and building principals gave a presentation to the school board this month outlining areas of focus.Lehighton Area High SchoolThe high school scored a 71.3 on its School Performance Profile for 2015-16, down slightly from 72.4 the previous years.After receiving the data, administrators first aimed to determine whether the school’s assessments were in line with what the state is testing.“There were no major gaps in our assessments, but the one resounding thing we heard from our staff is that our students have difficulty comprehending the questions because the way they are phrased are not necessarily the way we’re phrasing them on our assessments,” Principal Craig Reichl said. “We’re making sure that we’re using the same language.”Previously, a student wouldn’t see certain information in between the time a test was finished and the final exam.“We’re going to start bringing that stuff back from time to time, to keep that fresh even though we’re no longer on that unit,” Reichl said.Lehighton is also trying to build off the success of Carbon Career & Technical Institute, the top scoring career and technical school in the state and the top scoring school in the county.Reichl said the high school is piloting a Keystone Prep Test program used by CCTI.“We’re piloting the science program right now, and if it works well, I’ll purchase the math and English language arts programs as well,” he said.While he wants to see SPP scores move up and not back, Reichl said he feels the high school is moving in the right direction.“The assessments have generated great discussion which has been difficult to have before this year,” he said. “I feel good about everything moving forward.”Lehighton Middle SchoolIn what the district called a “unique scenario,” the middle school’s SPP score held steady from 75.7 in 2013-14 to 2015-16.The middle school, like all elementary schools, did not receive a score in 2014-15 due to it being the first year the more rigorous state core standards were integrated into PSSA tests.Posting the same score is a fact that building principal Dr. Mark McGalla is happy to share.“We’ve actually received calls from other schools asking how we did it because with the new standards, that was not an easy feat,” he said.Some of the areas of focus at the middle school are increased math and English language arts class time by 55 percent, creation of smaller sixth-grade math classes to provide more individualized attention and leveled instruction, and a five-step method being used by all English language arts teachers.“Really what we’ve done at the middle school just comes down to a simple adjustment in time,” Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said. “We got a little magical with the schedules so to speak and parents have been overwhelmingly supportive if we contact them and, for example, tell them their child could benefit from a reading type enrichment class instead of what they were originally scheduled to have at that time.”Cleaver said what is taught when has drastically changed with the new core standards in Pennsylvania.“What was taught in seventh grade we now have to teach in fifth,” he said. “We’re constantly making adjustments including looking at geometry and biology components in eighth grade. It isn’t fair to a student to not have the opportunity to be enriched because we don’t offer the course.”Elementary schoolsSPP scores for Lehighton’s four elementary schools were 76.2 for East Penn, 68.5 for Franklin, 65.9 for Mahoning and 75.8 for Shull-David.East Penn and Franklin Principal Sue Howland said the district has targeted literacy intervention programs such as RAVE-O and West Virginia Phonics.The four schools are also combining to make sure they are assessing students the same way across the board.Shull-David and Mahoning have also added an extra paraprofessional for math and reading.Other areas of focus include reviewing curriculum maps, tweaking the new English language arts series and continuing work on phonics, grammar, writing, comprehension and fluency.Effect on teachersOf all the stakeholders impacted by the SPP scores, teachers may feel the most pressure as the state has directly tied the scores to their evaluations.“The teachers really take these scores to heart,” Shull-David and Mahoning Principal Aaron Sebelin said.Board President Gloria Bowman encouraged the staff to engage in self-reflection throughout the year and not just after the scores come out.Her colleague, David Krause, said Monday he wanted the teachers to know the board believes in them.“Given these new standards, I don’t think we can take too much of a knee-jerk reaction,” Krause said. “We support our teachers. We’re all in this together to make sure every child does succeed.”