PSSA Elementary

Elementary is probably the toughest to compare district to district because there are so many.

So I'll first take a look at our three and see what comparisons if any can be made with the others.

Overall, Bushkill seems to get the nod, with Lower next and Shafer following.

Compared to other districts, Saucon and Southern Lehigh clearly outscored our elementaries, Parkland and Emmaus mostly did, Salisbury was split (one did, one didn't). Again, a fair assessment is probably the better of the mid-pack schools, but not on par with top tier.

3rd Grade - Shafer, Bushkill, Lower

Shafer scored highest in both Math and Reading advanced levels, and had lowest below basic in Math. Bushkill edged Shafer in reading 7.4 to 8.0.

Lower had one of the lowest Advanced Reading percents of any school at any level at 9.3. 7 Lehigh and 5 NorCo districts (12 out of 16 total) had at least 10% in every grade.

4th Grade - Bushkill, Lower, Shafer
Bushkill led all categories except below basic Math, which Lower had the best result at 2.6 (vs. 4.7).

5th Grade - Lower, Bushkill, Shafer
Lower had the most in Advanced, but Bushkill had fewer in Below Basic. Since the margins Lower had were bigger and Bushkill smaller, I went with Lower.

Of concern in this grade is Bushkill and Shafer having a quarter of their students at Basic or Below Basic in Math and a third at the same in Reading.