Great job T.A.S.D.!!!

Anything in our community you would like to discuss? Post it here.
Post Reply
SoccerMom
MVP Member
Posts: 202
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:18 am
If Mike has 13 apples, and gives six to Jane, how many does he have left?: 13
Location: Warriors Mark, PA

Great job T.A.S.D.!!!

Post by SoccerMom »

Tyrone tops Pa. in PSSA scores
More than half of 11th-grade class reaches advanced level of writing

http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/conte ... ml?nav=742

By Greg Bock, gbock@altoonamirror.com
POSTED: September 14, 2009 Save | Print | Email | Read comments | Post a comment
With 52 percent of its 11th-grade students achieving advanced level scores on the most recent Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests, Tyrone Area High School ranks first among the state's 501 school districts.

"You get better the more you do something," said English Department Chairman Steve Everhart, a 24-year classroom veteran and alumnus of the district. "We do a lot of writing."

As juniors, students spend the year writing 16 college-level assignments, said senior Rob Sellers, who will enter the U.S. Army after graduation.

"You can't imagine how ready we are on test day," Sellers said. "The PSSA seems easy after what we've been through."

Everhart pointed out that far from "teaching to the test," the English department has a longstanding history of a "rigorous curriculum" that goes back a decade and a half before the PSSA tests - the battery of state tests used to measure schools' compliance with federal No Child Left Behind requirements in math, writing and reading.

That curriculum, Everhart said, isn't just tailored to prep students bound for college but aims to equip all students with an invaluable asset to any career or vocation.

"Everyone needs to be able to communicate," Everhart said.

His enthusiasm for the students and his fellow English teachers - especially 11th-grade instructor David Rutter - is evident when he talks of the assignments that ultimately see students producing close to 100 typed pages of essays throughout each year and push beyond state expectations.

"I can't lie to my kids," Rutter said. "I tell them outright that writing is hard. But I also tell them rule No. 1 is that there are no good writers or bad writers - only effective and ineffective ones. Every day my mission is to teach them how to be more effective."

Everhart also said the English department works closely with social studies and science teachers to integrate writing into those subjects, although he stressed it's important students don't "get socked" with writing so much in every subject that they get turned off by it.

Everhart said the English curriculum doesn't just start in high school. As early as fifth grade, students begin learning the key concepts for good writing.

Superintendent William Miller said the district was among the first in the state to implement kindergarten in the 1940s and has had full-day kindergarten for 20 years. He said that commitment to early education, which builds a solid foundation for students, is one of the reasons the district was ranked among the best performing high schools in the nation by U.S. News and World Report magazine in 2007.

The key, Miller said, is the hard work and enthusiasm of the students, teachers, administrators and parents in setting and achieving high standards.

"It makes a difference," he said. "I'm happy to see that; the kids are on fire."

Along with 52 percent of juniors scoring at the advanced level, 47 percent scored at the proficient level on the writing test, leaving less than 1 percent at the basic level. No student scored below basic. Those results are unmatched anywhere in Blair County.

The writing PSSA test is given in grades five, eight and eleven. Last year, Tyrone became the first school in the county to have a graduating class in which 99 percent had achieved proficient levels in writing.

English teacher Richard Merryman, a 36-year classroom veteran and one-time teacher of Everhart at Tyrone, said the PSSAs have "compelled the average student to become better than average writers if for no other reason they have to practice frequently."
User avatar
banksy
MVP Member
Posts: 1036
Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2002 12:51 am
If Mike has 13 apples, and gives six to Jane, how many does he have left?: 13
Location: North Ridgeville, OH (TAHS 85)

Re: Great job T.A.S.D.!!!

Post by banksy »

Nice job.
Post Reply