Times Observer file photo A Warren Area High School graduate and her decorated cap are pictured during a graduation ceremony at War Memorial Field.

It won’t be long before Pennsylvania high school students take the 2024-25 Keystone Exams.

As Warren County School District officials work to restructure the way high school education is provided, the final year of keystone exams under the district’s four high school configurations this May provides an opportunity to see how we arrived at this point.

In the 2014-15 school year, Warren County had 347 students take the Keystone Exams: 73 at Eisenhower, 40-42 students at Sheffield, 58-59 students at Youngsville and 169-173 at Warren Area High School. In 2023-24, the numbers of students taking the exams had decreased precipitously to 255 students: 33 students at Eisenhower, 29 at Sheffield, 41-42 students at Youngsville and between 147 and 151 at Warren Area High School depending on the test. The decreases bring into focus the type of population loss Warren County has been facing, particularly over the past 10 years.

How did students do on those tests?

Proficiency rates on the Algebra 1 test have remained somewhat steady even as class sizes have decreased.

Proficiency rates were 65.75% at Eisenhower in 2014-15 and 67.2% in 2023-24, 37.5% at Sheffield in 2014-15 and 37.9% in 2023-24; 48.52% at Warren Area High School in 2014-15 and 46.9% in 2023-24; and 58.62% in Youngsville in 2014-15 compared to 36.6% in 2023-24.

Student proficiency on science tests over the past 10 years follows a similar trend. Proficiency was 45.21% at Eisenhower in 2014-15 and 50% in 2023-24, 28.57% at Sheffield in 2014-15 and 44.8% in 2023-24; 48.52% at Warren Area High School in 2014-15 and 52.5% in 2023-24; and 50% in Youngsville in 2014-15 compared to 42.9% in 2023-24.

In English, 73.97% of students at Eisenhower were proficient in 2014-15 and 81.4% in 2023-24, 47.62% were proficient at Sheffield in 2014-15 and 58.6% in 2023-24; 64.74% of students were proficient at Warren Area High School in 2014-15 and 66.7% in 2023-24; and 77.97% of Youngsville students were proficient in 2014-15 compared to 64.3% in 2023-24.

A look at graduation rates over the past 10 years tells a similar story. The size of graduating classes has decreased, except at Tidioute Community Charter School, which has added 10 graduates over the past 10 years and nine total senior class members. In the public school system, graduating classes have decreased from 65 to 56 in Youngsville, 76 to 64 at Eisenhower, 44 to 39 at Sheffield and 176 to 149 at Warren Area High School. Graduation rates have decreased from 95.38% at Youngsville to 87.5% in 2023-24; decreased from 92.11% at Eisenhower 10 years ago to 84.38% in 2023-24; increased from 90.91% a decade ago at Sheffield to 100% last year and increased from 86.36% at Warren to 88.59% in 2023-24.

What are those graduates doing? A higher percentage are entering the workforce, according to state data. The percentage of college-bound students has gone from 71.43% at Tidioute Community Charter School to 62.5% in 2023-24, 67.69% at Youngsville in 2014-15 to 34.62% for last year’s graduates; 53.49% in 2014-15 to 50% at Sheffield; 79.45% for Eisenhower’s 2015 graduating class to zero in 2023-24, though the 2023-24 information may be flawed, and 73.81% a decade ago for Warren Area High School graduates to 50% for the class of 2024.