Curriculum & Instruction Update

The work of teachers and students continues to amaze us at Upper Perk. We are so proud of the strides we are making in empowering students to pursue their interests and passions. Check out the videos below to see the awesome work some of our high school students are doing with Ms. Veronica Neff and Mr. Bardman in chemistry and technical education! Huge thanks to UPN for producing these videos. Their accomplishments thus far in the school year have not gone unnoticed.

At the last board workshop meeting on October 26th, the administrative team presented a comprehensive picture of school and district wide data. The community also had an opportunity to hear about each school's strengths, needs and plans for improvement. Please check out the UPSD website under school board to view the entire presentation.

Students in grades 3 through 8 are assessed annually through the Pennsylvania System of State Assessments in Math and Reading. The PSSA assessment is also administered to annually to all students in grades 4 and 8.

High school students must take the three state mandated assessments prior to graduation: Keystone Biology, Keystone Algebra or Keystone English Literature. Students must demonstrate proficiency on these assessment or through a district determined alternate program in order to be awarded their diplomas.

Upper Perkiomen School District also utilizes the Pennsylvania Value Added Assessment System to measure student growth in academic skills over time. PVAAS allows school districts to track the performance of cohorts of students over the years. PVAAS data also allows school districts to project student proficiency rates in Keystone and PSSA assessments.

Student performance on state assessments provide us with a snapshot into achievement levels at a point in time. However, Upper Perkiomen School District utilizes other assessment measures in order to gauge student achievement. During the 2016-2017 school year, Upper Perkiomen School District adopted NWEA Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Assessment system. Measures of Academic Progress is a nationally norm referenced test that allows us to compare the performance of UPSD students with other students throughout the country. This school year, all students in grades one through ten will take the MAP assessment in reading and math three times per school year. The following charts provide a visual representation of the Fall 2017 MAP results.

Check out this link for more information about the NWEA MAP Assessment.

The School Performance Profile is the official means by which the PA Department of Education assesses and reports school quality and achievement. All schools in the Commonwealth of PA, including cyber and charter schools and career and technical education centers are given a score. Each building is given a score of up to 100 points, with an additional 7 points added for advanced performance on state, industry and/or AP exams. A building's SPP score comprises 15% of each building-level professional staff member’s evaluation.

*14-15 SPP scores were not reported by the state because of changes to the elementary and middle school PSSA tests*

Email: afarina@upsd.org
Website: www.upsd.org
Location: Upper Perkiomen School District, PA, United States
Phone: 215-679-7961
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LearnUpperPerk/
Twitter: @LearnUpperPerk