This dataset is extracted from the Pennsylvania State Education System and is available in its raw form from http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/school_assessments/7442. This dataset may not be redistributed and may only be used by students of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, B12 term offering of CS4445. The following excerpt from the above site briefly describes the motivation behind the dataset. Please visit the above site for more detailed information. ------------------------------ TAKEN FROM http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/school_assessments/7442 : 2011-2012 PSSA and AYP Results (PSSA-M and PASA results also available below) The Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, also known as PSSA, measures how well students have achieved in reading, mathematics, science and writing according to Pennsylvania's world-class academic standards. By using these standards, educators, parents and administrators can evaluate their students' strengths and weaknesses to increase students' achievement scores. According to the federal No Child Left Behind Act, students must be 100% proficient in reading and math by 2014. The federal No Child Left Behind Act also requires states to determine annually whether schools and districts in Pennsylvania make Adequate Yearly Progress, also known as AYP. The 2011-12 targets were 78% proficient or advanced in math and 81% proficient or advanced in reading. For additional information, please contact: Dana Klouser | AO/Program Manager Pennsylvania Department of Education - Assessment and Accountability 333 Market Street | Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333 Phone: 717.705.3771 | Fax: 717.783.6642 00testing@psupen.psu.edu | www.education.state.pa.us ------------------------------ The Adequate Yearly Progress is also determined by school graduation and attendence rates. The attendence target goals for 2011-2012 were 90% attendence or targeted improvement over the previous year's attendence. The graduation rate target goal was total graduation rate of 85% and graduate rate of each sub-group of 85% or a 10% reduction in the previous years rate and 85%. These are not shown in the dataset. ------------------------------ Each instance of this dataset represents a grade-level of a school. Each recorded school has between 1 and 5 represented grade-levels. There are 8796 instances represented in this dataset. A brief description of the 56 attributes in this dataset: AUN number, identifying attribute School # number, identifying attribute County nominal, location of the school IU # number, indentifying attribute District nominal, name of the school district School nominal, name of the school School Type nominal, describes the type of school Possible values are SD, CS, CTC SD = traditional school that is part of a school district CS = Charter school CTC = Career/Technical School SJCI = State Juvenile Correctional Institute School Enrollment number, count of enrolled students in the school Location Type nominal, description of school locale Possible values are Rural, Town, Suburb, and City. Location Type Detail nominal, fine granularity description of school locale Possible values are Rural:Remote, Rural:Distant, Rural:Fringe, Town:Remote, Town:Distant, Town:Fringe, Suburb:Small, Suburb:Mid-size, Suburb:Large, City:Small, City:Mid-size, and City:Large. Avg Teacher Sal number, the average salary of classroom teachers in dollars Avg Teacher Ed Level number, the average education level of a classroom teachers Average is based on the following ordinal values: 1 - No high school diploma 2 - High school graduate 3 - Some college, no degree 4 - Bachelor's degree 5 - Master's degree 6 - Doctor's degree Grade number, grade-level In this dataset grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 11 are evaluated. * Class demographics are estimated based on the number of students that participated in the Math exam. Male Pct Est number, percentage of males in the class. Female Pct Est number, percentage of females in the class. White Pct Est number, percentage of non-Hispanic whites in the class. Black Pct Est number, percentage of African-Americans in the class. Hispanic Pct Est number, percentage of Hispanics in the class. Asian Pct Est number, percentage of Asians in the class. Multi-Ethnic Pct Est number, percentage of persons of multi-ethnic descent in the class. IEP Pct Est number, percentage of English Language Learners (non-native English speakers) in the class. ELL Pct Est number, percentage of Individualized Education Plan students (students with learning performance disability) in the class. Economically Disadvantaged Pct Est number, percentage of economically disadvantaged students in the class. * For each Exam (Math, Reading, Science, Writing) given: - number of students sampled who took the exam. - percentage of students scoring above advanced threshold. - percentage of students scoring above proficient threshold but below the advanced threshold. - percentage of students scoring above basic threshold but below the proficient threshold. - percentage of students scoring below basic threshold. Number Scored Math number Pct Advanced Math number Pct Proficient Math number Pct Basic Math number Pct Below Basic Math number Number Scored Reading number Pct Advanced Reading number Pct Proficient Reading number Pct Basic Reading number Pct Below Basic Reading number Number Scored Science number Pct Advanced Science number Pct Proficient Science number Pct Basic Science number Pct Below Basic Science number Number Scored Writing number Pct Advanced Writing number Pct Proficient Writing number Pct Basic Writing number Pct Below Basic Writing number * Drop-out rates are from the 2008-2009 school year and are given only for secondary school levels. 2009 Male Dropouts number, count of males students who dropped-out of the school 2009 Female Dropouts number, count of female students who dropped-out of the school 2009 Dropout Rate number, percentage of students who dropped-out of the school * Adequate Yearly Progress is defined as: Made AYP, School Improvement, Corrective Action, Making Progress, or Warning AYP Proceeding Level 2003 nominal AYP Proceeding Level 2004 nominal AYP Proceeding Level 2005 nominal AYP Proceeding Level 2006 nominal AYP Proceeding Level 2007 nominal AYP Proceeding Level 2008 nominal AYP Proceeding Level 2009 nominal AYP Proceeding Level 2010 nominal AYP Proceeding Level 2011 nominal AYP Proceeding Level 2012 nominal * Missing values are not represented by a character. The tabular column is left blank. -----------------