Karen Ryan, the district’s Executive Director of Schools, gave the board an overview of Pennsylvania Value‑Added Assessment System (PVAS) growth data at the Nov. 6 Committee of the Whole and said the district will provide a more detailed presentation at next week's meeting.

Ryan explained PVAS measures academic growth by comparing students with similar prior histories and organizes results into five quintiles shown on a color scale (red to dark blue). She said PVAS complements PSSA and Keystone data by showing how much progress students are making even when they have not reached proficiency.

Highlights and areas for focus: Ryan said the district saw positive growth trends in mathematics for grades 5–8 and in English language arts for grades 7–8. She identified continued opportunity for growth in grade 4 reading, ELA in grades 4–6, and in algebra, biology and literature course bands.

School improvement and accountability: Board members asked how PVAS is tied to school improvement plans. Ryan said PVAS provides projections and growth‑likelihood percentages for student groups and that the district has created a chief accountability officer role (Miss Gatewood) and implemented data‑tracking software and practices to monitor progress across school improvement plans.

Anchor program update: During questions, Ryan said the Anchor after‑school program has recruited staff and is now targeting student recruitment; she said administrators expect the Anchor program to begin in December and that the program should be monitored through classroom visits and oversight to ensure it yields achievement gains.

Provenance: Ryan’s PVAS preview began in the educational student services portion of the meeting; the Anchor after‑school program recruitment and start timing were discussed later in the PVAS/ED services segment.