City students' scores improve in state tests

State standardized-test scores for Philadelphia public-school students rose for the fifth year in a row, district officials said yesterday.

School Reform Chairman James E. Nevels and Interim Chief Executive Officer Tom Brady announced the results at the annual Summer Leadership training conference for school district principals at the High School of the Future in the Parkside section of West Philadelphia.

"One, two, three, four, five," Nevels said, counting off the past five years to principals packed in the school auditorium. "Aren't our kids something?"

The 2007 Pennsylvania State System of School Assessment test results show that overall, math scores rose 3 percent over last year, or 25.4 percent since 2002. Reading scores rose 2.5 percent, or 16.7 percent since 2002.

The test is given every year in reading and math to all students in grades 3 through 8, and 11th graders.

Officials said this is the first year that 4th-, 6th- and 7th- grade scores will be used to measure "adequately yearly progress" under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Both Brady and Nevels noted that while they were pleased with the test gains, they realized the district still has a long way to go.

For example, one of the charts the district provided showed that in 2002 nearly 60 percent of students tested "below basic" levels in math. This year, the percentage of students at below-basic levels is at 33.5 percent.

On the flip side, 19.5 percent of students scored at the advanced or proficient level in math in 2002; that increased to 44.9 percent in 2007. In reading, 23.9 percent tested at advanced or proficient in 2002; that figure rose to 40.6 percent in 2007.

Aissia Richardson, a parent activist with Parents United for Public Education, whose daughter will begin fifth grade in the fall, said she is still concerned with education in the district.

"I'm happy that things are getting better," she said yesterday. "But I'm still concerned with that 33 percent [still below basic levels in math]. That's like 60,000 children."

Brady, named interim CEO after Paul Vallas resigned to head the schools in New Orleans, said of the test gains, "This makes a case for continued long-term investment in the city schools."

He later acknowledged that the district still has many "challenges" to tackle, including a possible $80 million deficit.

The School Reform Commission is to meet at 2 p.m. today to discuss its deficit-reduction plan.

The SRC has announced it will make final budget reductions on Sept. 12.

But some parent groups have asked that any final decisions be postponed until there is "an open process for including the voices of parents and schools." *