Wilson teachers, administrators, and staff obviously have been doing something right in educating their students particularly in math and English last year.
As schools all over the state grapple with achieving proficiency standards in the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) test scores, Wilson students in grades three to eight achieved a 7.3 and 5.9 percent increase in math and English, respectively, this year over 2015.
According to a review presentation of 2015-2016 district goals and achievements made by Superintendent Doug Wagner to the school board at its monthly meeting Monday evening, proficiency levels on the PSSA exams for students in math rose from 45.4 percent to 52.7 percent and in English from 62.3 percent to 68.2 percent from 2015 to this year.
Wagner said the district's goal announced late Spring last year was to improve student achievement in math by nine percent and six percent in English. While falling short of its math goal despite a notable increase, the language arts level was achieved.
He said the district made the necessary instructional changes that increased the level of rigor in classroom instruction in addition to creating curriculum guides aligned with state core educational and assessment standards. He explained this was completed through classroom observations, evaluation of lesson objectives and course difficulty, and providing feedback to teachers.
Another student achievement goal realized was elementary students in grades one through four demonstrating a 50 percent growth on the end of the year math fluency assessment. Combining all four grades and the four math operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, an average of 90 percent of the students exceeded the 50 growth goal on the assessments.
Nearly the same methods used to increase PSSA scores were implemented for the math fluency endeavor in addition to using the "Rocket Math" program during the first three weeks of teaching in all elementary schools.
Other goals met included technology integration for teachers, student suicide prevention and awareness, establishment of the high school's new library media center, and an equity initiative for the historically underserved student population.