Norwin's Sheridan Terrace grabs top building score among Westmoreland elementaries

Teachers at Sheridan Terrace Elementary in the Norwin School District provided customized reading instruction for students and reached out to their families to reinforce educational goals.

Those strategies paid off, as Sheridan led all elementary schools in Westmoreland County in 2019, based on state-calculated building-level scores.

Sheridan achieved 93 out of a possible score of 100, which reflects the students’ collective achievement on state math, language arts and science assessment tests, how well they have advanced academically during the school year, and other factors, including school attendance rates.

Previously known as the School Performance Profile, the building-level score is among data used in evaluating teachers and principals under Pennsylvania’s Educator Effectiveness System (Act 82 of 2012).

Sheridan Terrace qualifies for the federal Title I program, which supplements educational programs for deprived children.

The staff at Sheridan selected three annual goals to emphasize, according to Natalie McCracken, Norwin’s assistant superintendent. “They did very well in meeting those goals and using strategies to show success,” she said.

The school’s family engagement strategies included promoting consistent school attendance and organizing a summer reading program with incentives for students to participate.

Faculty members worked on “identifying individual reading levels for each student” and providing “targeted instruction and materials at that level,” McCracken said.

Teachers also focused on building students’ vocabulary and writing skills. “We have strong teacher collaboration,” McCracken said. “The teachers get together in small groups and work on strategies to help students be successful.”

Visit the state Department of Education website (education.pa.gov) and search “Building Level Score” to see 2019 results for all of Pennsylvania’s 2,850 public, charter and cyber charter schools.

In November 2018, the state Department of Education introduced the alternative Future Ready PA Index. Rather than relying on a single score to summarize the annual performance of a school and its students, it sets forth a series of measurements to gauge academic performance, student progress and college and career readiness at the building level. Visit futurereadypa.org to search the most recent data, from the 2018-19 school year.