Greater Latrobe math scores on rise in 7th grade, need boost in other grades

Greater Latrobe Junior High ranked third out of 20 Westmoreland County middle schools last year, based on students’ state academic assessment results and attendance.

Students outperformed state average achievement levels in 2018-19, but district administrators say they’re focusing on more than just standardized test results as they prepare local youth for becoming productive citizens.

The assessment scores are “the lens by which we are judged by the state, but we all know there is much more that makes up our students,” said Robin Pynos, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and technology.

Junior High Principal Matthew Shivetts reported at this week’s school board meeting that students in grades 7 and 8 — who took state tests in language arts and math, with additional science assessments for eighth-graders — earned the school an overall performance profile score of 79.3 out of 100 for 2018-19. That placed Greater Latrobe third among the 20 middle schools in the county and within the top 50 of the more than 500 middle schools in the state, he said.

A state Department of Education online listing shows that the county’s top two middle schools, according to last year’s School Performance Profile scores, were in Penn-Trafford School District. Trafford Middle School had a score of 85.3 while Penn Middle School garnered a score of 81.1.

“We’re trying to create lifelong learners and valuable citizens in our society,” said Shivetts. “We’re trying to create a growth mindset — for students to understand that it’s not necessarily about attaining an A, B, C, D (letter grade). It’s about learning.”

When a student scores poorly on a question about a particular concept, he is encouraged to think, “I’m going to change my strategy and try it again,” said Mt. View Elementary Principal Becki Pellis. “They’re realizing they have to exercise their brains.”

Improving student performance in math is a priority at Greater Latrobe’s three elementary schools, with a revised math curriculum in use, administrators said.

At Mountain View Elementary last year, just 51.2% of fifth-grade students were deemed proficient or advanced in math while 91.8 % of fourth-graders reached that level in science. The latter figure was down from an impressive 100% proficiency level for the same grade in 2017-18.

At Baggaley Elementary, sixth-grade math also was at 51.2% proficiency, down from 68.5% in 2017-18, while third-grade language arts was at 92.2%, up from 86%. At Latrobe Elementary, sixth-grade math was at 52.3%, up from 47.4%, while fourth-grade science was at 93.3%, up from 88.1%.

Math results have been a bright spot in the seventh grade, leaping from a proficient-and-advanced rate of just 49% three years ago to 66% last year. But Shivetts said math has been “a sticking point for years” in the eighth grade, barely improving from 43% proficiency three years ago to 46% last year. “It’s something we’ve come back to over and over again,” he said, expressing hope that new benchmark testing at the beginning and midpoint of the school year will help boost scores.

In a new career-oriented program, Shivetts said, each junior high student annually must attend a presentation by at least one guest speaker.

“We have people from the community — veterinarians, police officers, game commission wardens — coming in and talking to students about their careers,” he said.

Students at Greater Latrobe Senior High achieved an 82.7% proficiency rate in biology last year, ranking third among results across the county.

Still, 11th- and 12th-grade Principal Jon Mains said, “At the high school, data is not our focus. Our focus is creating an atmosphere where students want to build relationships.”

He said the school’s staff is working to counteract a trend that indicates the percentage of students fully engaged in their school drops from 95% in first grade to just 34% in ninth grade.

“We’re trying to do everything we can to build relations with students and staff and create a culture where students want to be in this building,” Mains said. “We feel, if we have a great culture and great relationships, our test scores will come up.”