ADAMS TWP — Matt Friedman, Mars School District assistant superintendent and director of curriculum, was never more proud to hand out papers to school board members than he was at Tuesday’s board meeting.

The document listed the top 100 school districts in the state, according to the state Department of Education’s districtwide school performance profile scores. Mars ranks first among districts in Butler County, ninth in Western Pennsylvania, and 40th among the 500 districts in the state.

Based on 100 percent, Mars scored a 93.9 percent districtwide.

“I couldn’t wait to show you guys that,” Friedman said.

He especially appreciated the state ranking.

“That is beyond exceptional, with 500 school districts,” Friedman said.

Tim Eller, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, explained that the school performance profiles replace the adequate yearly progress scores the state used in the past to assess schools.

The new scoring method is different from the former AYP scores, Eller said. The criteria for the school performance profiles are the PSSA and Keystone Exam results; graduation and attendance rates; next-grade promotion rates; participation in advanced placement courses and college-prep tests like the SATs and PSATs; and the academic growth measured by testing students at the beginning and end of the year.

“AYP was a static measure of achievement,” Eller said. “It was really not a rich look at how schools are actually doing education students.”

He said under the AYP system, federal No Child Left Behind regulations stated that all students must perform at the “proficient” level by 2014. To avoid the nearly impossible task, the department requested a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education.

Upon approval of the waiver, the state Department of Education was required to come up with an alternative method of scoring school performance.

Eller said the performance profile was accepted by the U.S. Department of Education, and began being used for the 2012-13 school year.

The scores that Friedman shared on Tuesday night are from that year. Eller said the current year’s results should be released this summer or early fall.

He explained that while each school is given a performance profile score based on 100 percent, a separate formula was used to create the districtwide profile scores.

Regarding scores for the five individual Mars schools, Eller said the high school earned a score of 92.9; the middle school 95.5; the Centennial School 88.6; the elementary school 83.6, and the primary center 93.1.

He said Gov. Tom Corbett and Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley are traveling the state to congratulate schools with scores of 90 percent or higher. Eller did not know when Mars would receive a visit.

“The vast majority of schools in our state are doing well, and Mars is one of them,” Eller said.

He said on the district level, 82 percent of schools in Pennsylvania scored a 70 percent or higher, which shows education is a priority.

“That’s great,” Eller said. “There are a large number of schools across Pennsylvania that are doing excellent.”

He said the schools that are struggling will receive help from the department.

The performance profiles for individual schools also satisfies a portion of the new teacher evaluation law enacted two years ago that allows taxpayers to see how their dollars are being invested and how students are performing, Eller said.

Friedman told the school board Tuesday that the performance profiles also afford educators a look at their results.

“We always have the question ‘How are we doing?’” Friedman said. “I think this is very on target.”

The South Butler and Seneca Valley school districts also appeared in the top 100 districts, at 58 and 64, respectively. The North Allegheny School District, just south of Cranberry Township, came in third in the state.