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PSSA scores plummet across state; Department of Education responds

HARRISBURG, Pa. — State education officials expected their PSSA scores to be low when the numbers were released Tuesday. However, the actual numbers appea...

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- State education officials expected their PSSA scores to be low when the numbers were released Tuesday. However, the actual numbers appeared worse than expected.

The annual state exams, given to third-to-eighth grade students in the spring, showed a 35 percent drop in math scores and a nine percent decline in English Language Arts grades. The reason, according to officials in the State Department of Education, is the test students took in 2015 is different than any taken in previous years. Matthew Stem, Deputy Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, had a message for parents: Do not be concerned.

"Their children haven't changed. The assessment has changed," he said.

Stem says the 2015 tests were the first performed under Pennsylvania's new core standards. Adopted two years ago, Stem says the current core standards offer a more "rigorous curriculum" which is testing students on material which, in previous years, they wouldn't see for years down the road. Current standards are expected to better prepare students for college and the workforce, Stem says.

"We knew by adopting those standards the scores would be lower," he said. "The goal is preparing our students to be successful. This years' scores supply a snapshot of where we are in our first year of this new assessment."

That snapshot includes a math curriculum which involves more thought-based problem solving; material students normally wouldn't see until they were a year or two older. The English tests, Stem says, were not drastically different than previous years, hence the drop in scores wasn't as different. The curriculum will focus on non-fiction language arts, he added.

However, the low 2015 scores could have been avoided if teachers were more adequately prepared, according to Dolores McCracken, Vice President of the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA).

"Our school districts weren't given the opportunity to get ready for these new tests," she said. "They need to align with the curriculum. They need to have the instructional materials to support he curriculum, and the teachers need to have professional development so they can instruct under the new core standards."

McCracken compared the new PSSA tests to teaching someone how to sew a shirt, then giving them a test on sewing a pair of pants. She is calling for a three year moratorium on reporting Pennsylvania's test scores to national education agencies, so faculty and kids have the ability to get accustomed to the new standards.

"Give the school districts and the teachers enough time to do what they need to do so our children feel successful," McCracken said.

 

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