Pa. governor touts results of standardized tests

Associated Press

HARRISBURG

Pennsylvania students showed improvement in the latest round of state administered standardized tests, and Gov. Ed Rendell described the results released Tuesday as evidence that higher spending on education has paid dividends.

Rendell announced that just over 82 percent of schools reached targets of the federal No Child Left Behind Act this year, up from 78 percent a year ago. Seventy-six percent of those taking the annual Pennsylvania System of Schools Assessment standardized tests scored at or above grade level for math and 72 percent for reading.

All seven grades tested for math and science met academic targets, with only third-grade reading dropping from last year, and two others — fifth-grade math and fourth-grade reading — were essentially flat.

Pennsylvania administers the PSSA tests in grades three through eight, and to 11th-graders.

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