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Coatesville Area SD reviews five‑year district data; board seeks clarity on special education placements and assessment reporting
Summary
Coatesville Area School District administrators presented an annual district data report to the Education Committee on Feb. 18 that compiles multiple years of metrics including attendance, graduation rates, postsecondary destinations, and test results.
Coatesville Area School District administrators presented an annual district data report to the Education Committee on Feb. 18 that compiles multiple years of metrics including attendance, graduation rates, college and postsecondary destinations, Advanced Placement and Keystone results, and participation counts for athletics and other programs.
The report, introduced by Dr. McNamara, aggregates data over three‑ to five‑year spans, and includes the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Future Ready Index figures alongside district trends. “It’s nice because it’s generally over a 5 year or 3 year period to capture the history of data over time,” Dr. McNamara said while outlining the report’s contents.
Why it matters: the board framed the packet as a public, referenceable summary intended to help the district and community track long‑term trends in student outcomes and program participation.
Committee members focused their questions on special education statistics shown in the packet. One committee member asked whether the out‑of‑district percentage shown in the special education chart is a share of the special education population or a share of the district’s overall enrollment. Dr. McNamara replied that roughly 22% of students receive special education services (the presenter used an approximate figure) and that the packet shows 14.3% of the district’s overall population in out‑of‑district placements. The presenter clarified that the “out of district” figure reported does not include special education students who attend charter schools.
Board members said they will ask staff to confirm whether the packet’s chart labeled “IU” (intermediate unit) refers only to placements managed by the IU or to all out‑of‑district placements, and promised to return a clarified figure in future materials.
The presentation also noted that the district reports Advanced Placement exam performance with many scores in the 3–5 range, and that the packet lists institutions attended by members of the Class of 2024. Dr. McNamara pointed the board to an appendix of acronyms intended to help readers interpret education‑sector terms used in the report.
During the public comment period, resident Lori Shannon Bailey urged the board to make ACT scores and PSSA growth data more readily available to parents and to explain plans to raise growth in subjects she identified as concerning (literature, algebra and biology). “Those are red flags to me,” Bailey said, asking the district to publish its plan to increase student growth in those tested areas.
No final board action was taken on the report itself; the packet was presented as part of the Education Committee and is available on the board agenda for public review. The Education Committee’s next meeting is scheduled for March 11, 2025.
