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Chester County Press

Student assessment data tops Oxford School Board meeting

11/27/2018 02:34PM ● By Steven Hoffman

Dr. Margaret Billings-Jones, the assistant superintendent of the Oxford Area School District, reviewed some student assessment data with the school board at the meeting on Nov. 20.

Billings-Jones continued her ongoing reports about the 2018 PSSA test scores across the district, focusing this time on math scores in grades three through eight. Next, the assistant superintendent reviewed the 2018 Pennsylvania Value Added Assessment System, which is used to measure student growth in specific content areas from one grade to the next. Billings-Jones noted that in some areas and in some grades, Oxford's students are meeting or exceeding the expected level of growth, while in other areas, they are not.

Billings-Jones also talked about the new Future Ready PA Index, which the state's Department of Education recently launched as a way to measure school performance of school districts and individual school buildings across the state. The assistant superintendent said that there is a wealth of information available at the new website, futurereadypa.org, where the data is collected.

Oxford Area School District superintendent David Woods said that district officials were pleased, overall, with the results of the student assessments. He noted that the district introduced new curriculum in language arts and math several years ago, and there has been progress for students as a result. That progress should continue as the students advance to the higher grades.

School board president Joseph Tighe said that it's important for the district to have a plan in place to continue to help students attain higher achievement in the various assessments.

The school board presented a certificate to Lauren Watkins, a senior at the high school. Watkins serves as the student representative to the school board, and she recently completed a workshop at the Chester County Intermediate Unit to help her with those duties. Tighe noted that Watkins is the first student representative from Oxford to take that workshop.

In other business at the meeting:

The school district has established the per-pupil allocation for the 2019-2020 school year at $173. This is funding that is allocated to each school building to pay for items like supplies that students use on a regular basis.

The school board approved policy revisions regarding the federal programs procurement policy, the district-wide wellness policy, and the policy about parent involvement with regard to Title I programs.

The Oxford School Board will hold its annual reorganization meeting at the administration building at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 4.