The requirements for SPF were enacted in Act 46 of 1998. That is, achievement counts and effort counts. Notably, this program is based upon a school's improvement relative to its own past achievement and effort levels, not to other schools' performances. Further, SPF now also includes rewarding the maintenance of high standards in achievement and effort for schools that have a high baseline and score above that high standard for three consecutive years. Additionally, achievement is measured by job-related placements for vocational technical schools.
Effort is premised upon school level attendance rates.
Section I is comprised of information concerning PSSA and attendance improvement awards . The initial columns in Section I display the school's 2000 PSSA 5th, 8th and 11th grade scaled scores and the school's corresponding change from its baseline as well as its SPF dollar amount, if any, awarded. More specifically, a combined PSSA reading and mathematics scaled score baseline was determined for each school. This baseline was then compared to the school's 2000 combined PSSA reading and mathematics scaled score to calculate the school's improvement. When there is no PSSA scaled score shown, the school does not have students enrolled at that particular grade level.