Academic Standards & Accountability

The Pennsylvania Accountability System applies to all public schools and districts. It is based on the State's content and achievement standards, valid and reliable measures of academic achievement, and other key indicators of school and district performance such as attendance and graduation rates.  The Pennsylvania Accountability System meets the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation and has the same end goal - having every child in the Commonwealth proficient or above in reading and mathematics by the year 2014.   

Schools are evaluated on a minimum target level of improvement called Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).  A key additional feature of the Pennsylvania Accountability System is that it allows both a schools absolute level of achievement (the proportion of students who score at or above the proficient level), and a schools growth in achievement from one year to the next to be recognized.

The same accountability system applies to students who have IEPs. Their instruction is directly linked to the academic standards and their progress is measured by their achievement levels on the PSSA or the PASA. School districts are charged with providing assessment and accountability features in order to ensure that students with IEPs make progress with academic standards.

Additional information on the components of the accountability system, the Pennsylvania Performance Index, and how schools achieve their AYP is available at http://www.paayp.com.