Chambersburg schools see modest midyear reading gains; district projects half of third-graders may reach PSSA proficiency

Chambersburg Area School District administrators reported incremental progress toward the district’s goal that every student read and comprehend by the end of third grade, but said current midyear measures project only about half of students reaching PSSA proficiency.

At a Feb. 25 board meeting, district staff presented three metrics the district will use to measure the goal—NWEA MAP, the Acadience reading screener, and the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA)—and said students must meet two of the three measures to be counted as meeting the standard. “MAP is a nationally normed assessment tool that we use to gauge students' achievement and growth,” Dr. Sarah Herbert said, describing the first measure. “Acadience is our universal screener. Every student K to 3 gets it three times a year,” Lindsey Breslin added.

The presentations focused on midyear MAP data and Acadience results, plus a projection that about 52 percent of the district’s students were on track to be proficient or advanced on the PSSA for the 2024–25 cohort based on winter MAP results. "When we say there's a projection, it's a little daunting to look at it. Only half of our kids are there," Herbert said.

Why it matters: proficiency on third-grade ELA tests is a frequent benchmark for early-reading initiatives. Administrators told the board that the district is aligning staffing and programming to raise early-grade outcomes before students reach third grade, when the PSSA first applies.

What the data show: District leaders said MAP growth charts show some cohorts that made stronger midyear gains that later slowed; they said the new historical charts will help identify trends across years. Acadience data for K–3 were available for the last two years only; presenters cautioned that Acadience items change across testing windows and that year-to-year comparisons are most reliable when the same window is compared. Breslin highlighted a cohort that rose from 38 percent at the beginning of first grade to 58 percent at the beginning of second grade.

Administrators described current and planned interventions: daily 30-minute “wind time” for small-group work in elementary schools, hiring additional interventionists and deans who will spend half their time on interventions, a planned set of content specialists to support professional learning, expanded screening for early identification, and continuing the district’s walk-to-read program in selected schools.

District leaders emphasized professional development as the largest remaining need. "Our biggest need, or absolute biggest need, is professional learning," Mike Widman said, citing lost training days because of winter weather and the need to train K–3 teachers in structured literacy.

Discussion and next steps: Board members asked for clarification about the three measures, how long each assessment takes, and how parents can access results. Presenters said MAP typically takes 30–45 minutes and is administered on Chromebooks; Acadience is a one-on-one screening that usually takes several minutes. The district said it would continue to present updated dashboards, and that school-by-school data are available on each school’s page on the district website.

The board did not take formal action on the metrics at the Feb. 25 meeting; administrators said additional budget and staffing proposals tied to the district’s 1% (plus-x) capital reserve discussion will come with the proposed final budget in April.