Performance Outcomes

At Pace School, the goals for students are lofty:

Close achievement gaps in reading, math and writing
Reduce psychiatric symptoms
Return to public school

Progress Monitoring
Pace School tracks progress for all students in kindergarten through ninth grade, unlike most other schools. Teachers at Pace School routinely evaluate the effectiveness of instruction using a process called "Curriculum Based Measurement."

Shifting from "Did Your Child Learn?" to "Is Your Child Learning?"
Rather than evaluating student performance at the end of the school year, curriculum-based measurement enables teachers to modify instructional interventions during instruction, while there is still time for students to benefit.

State-of-the-art technology enables weekly progress monitoring in reading and monthly monitoring in math and writing.

"Benchmarking" against grade-level material is conducted three times per year to evaluate how students compare to those in a regular classroom.

To evaluate reading, Pace uses guidelines promoted by the National Reading Panel and uses early literacy measurements for students in kindergarten and first grade.

Special needs students, as a subgroup in Pennsylvania, score lowest on the Pennsylvania System of State Assessment (PSSA). One hundred percent (100%) of students at Pace School are in this subgroup. The following chart shows impressive results for Pace School students.

What it means to you:
This data shows the effect of our blended education and mental health programs. Given the challenges faced by every student, the data strongly suggest that students are learning.

Behavioral Improvements
Decreasing psychiatric symptoms and improving behavior is an equally important goal. Each child’s response to therapeutic interventions is reviewed at 20 day intervals by the psychiatrist, mental health professional, and treatment team members.

Client Satisfaction
Feedback from students, families, school districts, and agencies served by Pace School is vital to ongoing program evaluation, improvement, and expansion. Confidential surveys are conducted to obtain opinions and recommendations that are used to modify or expand services to better address the needs of our clients.

Average Length of Stay/Transition
Securing placements that provide the level of service needed for students leaving Pace to continue on a path of positive growth and change is a priority. Pace evaluates the appropriateness of each child’s placement on a monthly basis and works collaboratively with families, school districts, and mental health agencies to evaluate other placements and transition students into new learning environments. A child’s average length of stay at Pace School is two years.