Millville Area Junior Senior High School

Millville Area Area Junior Senior High School currently offers Advanced Placement (AP) courses in Calculus, English, and Biology. Students have the option of taking College Board-approved AP courses and then taking the College Board's examination in the Spring. Millville Area High School gives credits towards graduation to students who take the school's AP class.[9] In 2016, MASD offered 3 AP Courses, with just 46% of the students who took an AP course earning a 3 or better on the exam.[10]

The Millville Area School District offers a variety of clubs, activities and sports programs. Junior varsity and varsity athletic activities are under the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association and the regional Pennsylvania Heartland Athletic Conference.[11] The Pennsylvania Heartland Athletic Conference is a voluntary association of 25 PIAA High Schools within the central Pennsylvania region. The Millville Area School Board determines eligibility policies to participate in these programs.[12] According to Pennsylvania’s Safety in Youth Sports Act, all sports coaches, paid and volunteer, are required to annually complete the Concussion Management Certification Training and present the certification before coaching.[13] For 2013-14, Millville Area School District budgeted spending $263,121 on student activities, not including facilities costs or transportation.[14]

By Pennsylvania law, all Kindergarten through 12th grade students in the district, including those who attend a private nonpublic school, cyber charter school, charter school and those homeschooled, are eligible to participate in the District's extracurricular programs, including all athletics. They must meet the same eligibility rules as the students enrolled in the District's schools.[15]

According to PA Child Abuse Recognition and Reporting Act 126 of 2014, all volunteer coaches and all those who assist in student activities must have criminal background checks. Like all school district employees, they must also attend an anti child abuse training once every three years.[16][17][18]

Coaches receive compensation as outlined in the teachers' union contract. When athletic competition exceeds the regular season, additional compensation is paid.[19]

Article XVI-C of the Public School Code requires the disclosure of interscholastic athletic opportunities for all public secondary school entities in Pennsylvania. All school entities with grades 7-12 are required to annually collect data concerning team and financial information for all male and female athletes beginning with the 2012-13 school year and submit the information to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Beginning with the 2013-14 school year, all non-school (booster club and alumni) contributions and purchases must also be reported to PDE.[20]

The District funds:

Junior High School Sports

According to PIAA directory July 2014 [21]

The Millville Area School Board requires all students to earn 24 credits to graduate, including: 4 English credits, 3 Science credits, 3 Math credits, 3 Social Studies credits, 1 Computer Courses credit, 1.7 Health/Physical Education credits, 0.5 Personal Finance credits, 0.5 Fine Arts credits, 0.5 Fit For Life credits, and 4.8 credits of electives.[22]

Previously, all Pennsylvania secondary school students were required by law to complete a project as a part of their eligibility to graduate from high school. The type of project, its rigor and its expectations were set by the individual school district.[23] At Millville Area School District, the graduation project focuses on career exploration.[24] Effective with the graduating class of 2017, the Pennsylvania Board of Education eliminated the state mandate that students complete a culminating project in order to graduate.[25]

By Pennsylvania School Board regulations beginning with the class of 2019,[26] public school students must demonstrate successful completion of secondary level course work in Algebra I, Biology, and English Literature by passing the Keystone Exams.[27][28][29] For the class of 2020, passing a civics and government exam will be added to the graduation requirements.[30] In 2011, Pennsylvania high school students field tested the Algebra 1, Biology, and English Literature exams. The statewide results were: Algebra 1- 38% on grade level, Biology - 35% on grade level and English Lit - 49% on grade level.[31] Individual student, school, and district reports were not made public, although they were reported to district officials by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Students have several opportunities to pass the exam. Those who do not pass after several attempts can opt to make a project instead.[32][29] Students identified as having special needs and qualifying for an Individual Educational Program (IEP) may graduate by meeting the requirements of their IEP. School district superintendents have the discretion to graduate up to 10% of pupils who do not pass the exams or project.[29]

In 2016, Millville Area School District reported a 79.07% graduation rate.[33] Millville Area School District's graduation requirements have been defined in the Strategic Plan and school board policy.[34]

In 2010, the Pennsylvania Department of Education issued a new, 4-year cohort graduation rate.[40]

In the 2015-16 school year, Millville Area JSHS's School Performance Profile (SPP) was 68.3 points out of 100. This measurement reflects how many students are on grade level for reading, mathematics and science. The Keystone Exam results showed that 83% of students were on grade level in reading and literature, and 80% of students were on grade level for Algebra. For Biology, 81% of pupils demonstrated on grade level science understanding at the end of the Biology course.[45] The requirement that pupils pass the Keystone Exams in reading, algebra I and bIology I in order to graduate was postponed until 2019 by the Pennsylvania General Assembly because less than 60% of 12 grade pupils statewide would have been eligible for graduation from high school due to failing one or more Keystone Exams.[46] Only fifty-four percent of the 2,676 public schools in Pennsylvania achieved a passing score of 70 or better.[47]

The PSSA mandated testing results showed that just 42% of students in 8th grade were on grade level in reading, while 29% of students were on grade level in mathematics. In science, 45% of eighth grade pupils demonstrated on grade level understanding.[48] In 7th grade, 56% of pupils were on grade level in reading, while only 34% demonstrated on grade level math skills.

In the following charts, the percentages under Keystone Results, Statewide Keystone Results, and PSSA results represent the percentage of students that tested on grade level in that subject during the given school year.

Currently, the PSSAs are used to assess middle schoolers. For the Junior/Senior High School, this means that seventh and eighth graders must take the exam in the spring.

While the SAT is not a required test, it is a common barometer for college admissions, meaning that a significant number of pupils at Millville Area High School opt to take the exams yearly. The chart below is a compilation of the average scores of MASD students.

The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a research arm of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, compared the SAT data of students in rural areas of Pennsylvania to students in urban areas. From 2003 to 2005, the average total SAT score for students in rural Pennsylvania was 992, while urban students averaged 1,006. During the same period, 28 percent of 11th and 12th graders in rural school districts took the exam, compared to 32 percent of urban students in the same grades. The average math and verbal scores were 495 and 497, respectively, for rural students, while urban test-takers averaged 499 and 507, respectively. Pennsylvania’s SAT composite score ranked low on the national scale in 2004. The composite SAT score of 1,003 left Pennsylvania ranking 44 out of the 50 states and Washington, DC.[60]

In 2012, Millville Area Junior Senior High School declined to Warning Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status due to lagging achievement in both reading and mathematics.[61] In 2011 and 2010 the High School achieved AYP status under the federal No Child Left Behind law.[62] In 2009, Millville Junior Senior High School ranked 495th out of 666 Pennsylvania high schools for the reading and mathematics achievement of its students.[63]

In 2016, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) released a report identifying Millville Area Junior Senior High School as among the lowest achieving schools for reading and mathematics in the state.[64] Five hundred fifty-two (552) public schools were on the list for 2016. The program empowers eligible students residing within the boundaries of a low-achieving school to apply for a scholarship to attend another public or nonpublic school.[65] In Columbia County, Berwick Area High School was also on the low achievement list.

According to a Pennsylvania Department of Education study released in January 2009, 20% of Millville Area Junior Senior High School graduates required remediation in mathematics and/or reading before they were prepared to take college level courses in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education or community colleges.[66] Less than 66% of Pennsylvania high school graduates, who enroll in a four-year college in Pennsylvania, will earn a bachelor's degree within six years. Among Pennsylvania high school graduates pursuing an associate degree, only one in three graduate in three years.[67] Per the Pennsylvania Department of Education, one in three recent high school graduates who attend Pennsylvania's public universities and community colleges takes at least one remedial course in math, reading, or English.

Millville Area JSHS allows students to participate in Bloomsburg University's dual enrollment program, ACE. This program permits high school students to take courses at Bloomsburg University to earn college credits. Students remain enrolled at their high school and continue to have full access to activities at their high school. The courses count towards high school graduation requirements and towards earning a college degree. Under the Pennsylvania Transfer and Articulation Agreement, many Pennsylvania colleges and universities accept these credits for students who transfer to their institutions.[68] In theory, any grade level high schooler can begin taking classes through ACE, but first must be admitted into the program. In practice, mainly juniors and seniors participate.[69] For the 2009-10 funding year, the Millville Area School District received a state grant of $2,112 for the program. Under state rules, students that reside in the district who attend a private school, a charter school, or are homeschooled are also eligible to participate in this program.[70]

In 2014, Millville Area School District offered several dual enrollment courses in conjunction with Pennsylvania College of Technology. Penn College NOW classes are taught by approved local high school teachers, at the high school.[71] Penn College NOW is partially funded by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-270), through the Pennsylvania Department of Education, by the support of Pennsylvania companies through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit program managed by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and by Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Millville Area Junior Senior High School took advantage of a state program called Science in Motion which brought college professors and sophisticated science equipment to the school to raise science awareness and to provide inquiry-based experiences for the students. The Science in Motion program was funded by a state appropriation and cost the school nothing to participate.[72] Susquehanna University provides the experiences to the District.

In 2011, the Millville Area School District received funding through a Highmark Healthy High 5 grant. Millville Area Junior Senior High School received $8,300 which was used to purchase equipment for Fit for Life, a required semester long course for all ninth-grade students.[89] Beginning in 2006, Highmark Foundation engaged in a 5-year, $100 million program to promote lifelong healthy behaviors in children and adolescents through local nonprofits and schools.

In 2013, Millville Area School District did not apply for a state Safe Schools Targeted Grant. The maximum of $25,000 grants were awarded through a competitive application process.[96] The funds must be used for research based interventions, like: peer mediation, staff training in managing behavioral issues and creating a positive school climate. In Columbia County, Berwick Area School District received a $38,000 grant.