Pennsylvania Department of Education details new Future Ready PA index, highlights modest gains and attendance shortfall

The Pennsylvania Department of Education on Tuesday described the PA Future Ready Index, a web tool intended to give communities a clearer, multi‑metric view of school performance and progress toward federal goals.

Department officials told the House Education Committee the index was designed to replace a single summative score with multiple indicators — state assessment measures, on‑track measures and college‑and‑career measures — and provide context about how a school compares with the state average and long‑term goals.

The index, Department deputy secretary Carrie Rowe said, shows “the percent of students that are proficient or advanced in a given area like English Language Arts, Math and Science,” adds contextual comparisons to the state average, and reports progress toward the long‑range ESSA goals. Rowe directed committee members to futurereadypa.org to view color‑coded results and directional arrows that indicate year‑to‑year change: “If you were to go to futurereadypa.org … you would be able to then to click on that and see, where they stand relative to the state average, where they are relative to that 02/1930 goal, and how, in just a quick look at that, how they stand relative to what they did last year,” she said.

Why it matters: The department and committee members said the index aims to make performance more transparent to parents, educators and legislators by exposing subgroups and growth trends that a single averaged score can obscure. Officials said the index should help districts target interventions and track progress over multiple years.

Key features and how to read them - Three indicator groups: state assessments, on‑track measures, and college‑and‑career readiness. Each indicator lists proficiency percentages and related contextual data. - Color coding and arrows: blue indicates a district has met long‑term goals, green indicates interim goal attainment, red indicates goals not yet met. Upward and downward arrows show year‑to‑year change even when a goal has already been met. - Drill‑down data: the site includes enrollment, demographic breakdowns, graduation rates, attendance and career‑technical indicators, and the ability to download multi‑year data for trend analysis.

What the data show, according to department staff - Modest, steady gains: Dr. Brian Campbell, director in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, said “each year since the pandemic, scores have increased gradually, but we are not yet to the pre pandemic benchmark.” He said math showed the largest recent gains, science saw small gains and reading was flat to slightly down in places, and that English Learner attainment and career readiness indicators showed notable improvements. - Graduation rates: Campbell said graduation rates have “increased continually and have actually surpassed pre pandemic levels.” - Attendance lags: officials emphasized attendance remains the one indicator that has not recovered steadily since the pandemic; Campbell said regular attendance “is the 1 indicator that has not increased steadily since the pandemic.” Committee members and department staff connected attendance to other outcomes and discussed outreach, truancy responses and targeted supports.

Limitations and federal requirements - ESSA timeline: several speakers noted the index’s long‑range goals align with federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) timelines and that COVID‑era testing disruptions pushed some federal goal years forward. Committee members asked about ESSA requirements and why the 2030 target shifted to 2033; department staff explained the change reflected years in which state data were not reported to the federal government. - Not a single accountability number: both the department and superintendents said the index intentionally avoids a single “A–F” style score to prevent masking subgroup differences; instead, users are encouraged to examine multiple indicators and multi‑year trends.

What officials recommended next Department staff recommended legislators and local leaders use the index as a starting point and then drill down using local assessments and other measures to understand growth and gaps. Rowe and Campbell said schools should combine the index with local data, including benchmark and formative measures, to guide curriculum changes and resource allocations.

For more information The department points audiences to futurereadypa.org for district‑level data and downloadable multi‑year reports. Dr. Rowe and Dr. Campbell said staff contact information and written testimony were provided to the committee.