Consultants will be working with Northgate educators to increase state test scores for students with learning disabilities in the middle/senior high school.

Assistant to the superintendent Kathy Gallagher told the Northgate School Board at its meeting Monday that the district had met 45 of 46 target goals set by the state for performance on the past school year’s Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) test scores.

The state looks at the district’s performance as a whole, at performance by students in particular schools and grades, and also at individual groups within the student body. Each year, a district must make “Adequate Yearly Progress” as determined by the No Child Left behind Act.

This year, 56 percent of students were required to test at the proficient or advanced levels in math. The district met that goal for all groups except middle/high school students with learning disabilities, where the percentage dropped to 23 percent.

Gallagher explained that this was sufficient to put the district in a warning category. OnHand Schools, a data management systems group, will be coming to Northgate in the near future to assess its math program and instruction. According to Gallagher, OnHand's assessment will be used not only to improve PSSA math scores for the learning disabled, but all of the District's students.

In addition, she said, elementary students will have tutoring services provided to them and 10th grade students will be taking additional math classes if needed.