Key Finding: In 2025, an estimated 57.2% of scored eighth graders reached Proficient or Advanced in English Language Arts (ELA). This was 10.4 percentage points below the 2018 rate. The estimate covers schools reported under Allegheny County.
What The Data Shows: The ELA rate rose from 63.7% in 2015 to 67.6% in 2018. It fell in each year from 2022 through 2025, with rates of 62.1%, 59.9%, 59.3%, and 57.2%. The 2025 estimate includes 9,684 scored students at 83 schools.
Analysis: The recent decline is within the ELA test era that began in 2015. In 2025, about 42.8% of included students were below the state’s Proficient level. That does not mean those students could not read. ELA tests both reading and writing, and the rate shows the share who met the state’s test standard.
The older results need separate treatment. The reading test changed in 2005, and a new ELA test and score standards began in 2015. Each year also covers a new group of students. The series alone cannot show what caused the recent decline.
Method: ADI used school results from the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). The series spans test years 2001–2025, which refer to the school years ending in those years. It has 23 annual estimates. Each estimate uses eighth grade and the All Students group only, with one row per school.
For each school, ADI multiplied the count scored by its percent Proficient or Advanced, then divided by 100. ADI added those estimated counts, divided by the total scored students in the included schools, and multiplied by 100. Where the file gave no combined share, ADI added Advanced and Proficient. Results are shown to one decimal place because the source school rates are rounded. The estimated counts may include fractions of a student. No margin of error was calculated.
Schools were selected by the county shown in the source files. For 2003–2005, ADI joined school IDs in the same year’s files to match student counts with county. For 2014, ADI joined school IDs to the state school directory, then used the district or school entity ID to assign county from other PSSA files. For 2015, ADI used that entity ID to assign county from 2016–2025 files. Those joins assume the county assigned to each entity stayed the same.
ADI could not verify a county eighth-grade result for 2013 from public files. Testing was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. Fewer students took the test in 2021, and the state warned against cross-year comparisons. That point is shown on its own. No values were filled in for missing years, and no change was computed across the 2005 or 2015 test breaks.
Sources
- Pennsylvania Department of Education. PSSA school-level Reading results, test years 2001–2012; eighth grade, All Students. Archived state results index. The annual data and source index lists the original download and archived annual page for each year. For 2003–2005, the school subgroup files supply counts and rates; the same-year school performance files supply county.
- Pennsylvania Department of Education. 2013–2014 State Accountability Assessment Results, school-level file; Reading, eighth grade, All Student. Assessment file. School and District Fast Fact Data for SY 2013–2014, school IDs and entity IDs. Directory file.
- Pennsylvania Department of Education. PSSA School Level Data, test years 2015–2019 and 2021–2025; English Language Arts, eighth grade, All Students. Annual releases. Direct annual file links appear in the data and source index. The 2021 school file includes the state’s warning about low test participation.
- Pennsylvania Department of Education. About the Reading Assessment Anchors, revised May 30, 2006; explanation of the 2005 test change. PDE document.
- Pennsylvania Department of Education. Department of Education Releases Results From New PA Core-Aligned Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, September 29, 2015; explanation of the new test. PDE announcement.
ADI calculations and graphic adaptation: Annual estimates derived from PDE school data. Source files retrieved November 6, 2026. Brief prepared November 9, 2026.
