TAHS number one in the state

By Rhett Everhart

Tyrone Area High School is number one in the state in reading and writing PSSA scores.

TAHS 11th grade students scored highest in the state on last year’s reading and writing tests with scores through the 81st -100th percentile, which means our students had the top scores out of all Pennsylvania schools.

In reading achievement, TAHS scored 80% proficient, tying with Hollidaysburg for first. Altoona is ranked second place with 75% proficient and Bellwood is ranked 5th with 73% of their students proficient.

In writing achievement, TAHS scored 99% proficient which put us in a first place position, Bellwood placed second with 97% proficient, and Altoona placed third with 95% proficiency.

TAHS set a goal for 2014 to have 100% of our student’s proficient. The fact of the matter is that our school is not going to meet this goal.

Mr. Everhart, 11th grade English teacher, said, “We live in a real world where no students are perfect and some of them want to be left behind; the politicians who set such goals as 100% proficient live in a world where fairy creatures wave wands over students’ heads and rainbows and unicorns carry them away to the Land of Proficiency . Is Ben Roethlisberger a failure if he does not complete 100% of his passes? Is television’s Dr. House a failure if he does not save 100% of his patients? No Child Left Behind only ever existed in the mind of politicians who wanted to see the eventual demise of public education and now even those politicians are confessing that No Child Left Behind was unrealistic legislation.”

Even though we scored 80% proficient in reading achievement and 99% proficient in writing achievement, these scores will drop in the 2012-2013 school year because the Keystone Exams will be implemented.

Only 44% of students statewide passed the Keystone Exam pilot test last year compared to the 67% of student’s state wide who passed the PSSA test last year.