Pennsylvania Schools Most Improved

The Center on Education Policy, or CEP, an independent nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., has studied test results in all 50 states and found that student achievement in Pennsylvania has improved across the board and at every level since 2002.

Pennsylvania was the only state with rising test scores at grades 4, 8 and 11 and at all achievement levels in both reading and math. Jack Jennings, CEP President and CEO, says public education is still not where it should be in the country or in Pennsylvania, especially in districts with high concentrations of poor students, but Pennsylvania is moving in the right direction.

Pennsylvania is one of only 5 states that showed improvement at the high school level, where Jennings says there is a national problem. The CEP will release a study on the achievement gap in September.