The data is in from the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System or PVAAS and in Erie's Public Schools students in grades 4 through 8 met or exceeded state benchmarks for growth.

According to district officials, returning to in-person learning made a big difference, but they also thing the progress in growth is because they invested in a new curriculum that is well aligned with education standards.

Karin Ryan, Director of Educational Services said that the academic progress isn't about achievement, it is about growth. "PVASS really measures from where a child has started at the beginning of the year - their growth through the end of the year or the assessment cycle," Ryan said.

The data shows that Erie students are exceeding state benchmarks, growing more in a year in English, Math and in some cases Science than what the PA Dept. of Education thought possible. "When kids come in they can fall behind, they can maintain they can grow or they can you know really exceed growth -- and we're seeing that our kids have exceeded growth in a lot of our grade levels and content areas," Ryan said.

Grover Cleveland school principal Deanna McFarland and her teaching staff are watching that progress in the classroom daily.  She said the return to in-person learning has played a big part. "Anytime you can have those hands on learning experiences and that direct instruction is going to be most beneficial for kids in my opinion so we're very excited to have kids back in school and learning and seeing that you know again that the work that's happening here is making a difference," McFarland said.

Educators in Erie's Public Schools believe the growth also stems from implementing a brand new curriculum and restoring student supports that were cut during the district's financial crisis. "We feel like the switches that we've made with high quality instructional materials has really impacted our kids, and we also feel like the student support services that we've invested in are really helping our kids in removing barriers to things that might have been preventing kids from growing," Ryan said.

If students grow at a faster rate, Ryan believes that they'll hit academic proficiency rates much sooner as well.