Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
04/19/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/19/2024 13:13
ICYMI: Governor Shapiro Announces Pennsylvania Will Reduce Reliance on Standardized Testing, Calls for “Less Testing, More Learning” to Help Students and Teachers Succeed
ICYMI: Governor Shapiro Announces Pennsylvania Will Reduce Reliance on Standardized Testing, Calls for "Less Testing, More Learning" to Help Students and Teachers Succeed
April 19, 2024
"The Governor's plan to streamline how we administer standardized tests throughout the commonwealth will reduce our reliance on PSSAs and Keystone exams while ensuring students and teachers have the flexibility they need to be successful."- Senator Wayne Fontana
"It was an honor to welcome Governor Shapiro to the Northgate School District, and we are incredibly pleased about the proposed changes to standardized testing. We thank the Shapiro Administration for listening to the concerns and focusing on doing what is right for our students." - Northgate School District Superintendent Dr. Caroline Johns
Harrisburg, PA - Yesterday, Governor Josh Shapiro and Secretary of Education Dr. Khalid Mumin visited Allegheny County to announce changes to Pennsylvania's system of school assessments that will reduce the amount of time students spend taking standardized tests, mitigate stress and anxiety around testing by adopting question types that match how students learn, help teachers spend more time teaching, and save the Commonwealth millions of dollars.
The new plan will reduce the state's reliance on standardized testing and will implement online testing, adopting question types that allow students to use methods they are familiar with, and developing a free, optional benchmark assessment tool for schools to help educators better understand whether students are on track to succeed.
The Shapiro Administration is committed to making sure students get the support they need to succeed - in school and beyond. The 2024-25 budget proposal builds on last year's progress to ensure all Pennsylvania children have the freedom to chart their own course and the opportunity to succeed, by investing in our public schools, teachers, and facilities. The proposal includes a $1.1 billion increase in basic education funding, $300 million for environmental repairs, $100 million for mental health supporters in school, a $50 million increase for special education funding, and more.
Read what people are saying about the Governor's plan to reduce the reliance on standardized testing, helping more students succeed in the classroom, below.
Secretary of Education Dr. Khalid N. Mumin: "One of the ways we can better serve both learners and educators is by examining the usage and efficacy of standardized tests. While Pennsylvania is among a group of states that take a relatively minimalist approach to statewide standardized testing and administers only the minimum number of assessments required by federal law, we have listened to feedback from the field and the public and have responded with a plan that will benefit schools, educators, and Pennsylvania's 1.7 million learners."
Senator Wayne Fontana: "The Governor's plan to streamline how we administer standardized tests throughout the commonwealth will reduce our reliance on PSSAs and Keystone exams while ensuring students and teachers have the flexibility they need to be successful. As the Chairman of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), I understand the importance of ensuring our students are prepared for the next steps of their educations. The Governor's plan to reduce the burden of standardized testing in Pennsylvania will help achieve that."
Senator Lindsey Williams: "Every student, educator, and parent knows it's long past time to reform the way we administer federally mandated standardized tests in Pennsylvania. I welcome the Administration's efforts to do what we can at the state level to minimize time spent on testing and look forward to working with PDE to ensure this transition is smooth and equitable for students across all districts."
Representative Emily Kinkead: "Northgate has a strong history of taking a student-first approach to maximize the accessibility and efficiency of its programming, including standardized testing. While these tests are necessary to secure federal funds, most of the teachers, students, and staff who tackle the PSSAs and Keystones every year feel strongly that they have become an obstacle to the larger objectives of our education system and need major reforms like this."
Dr. Caroline Johns, Superintendent of Schools at Northgate School District: "It was anhonor to welcome Governor Shapiro to the Northgate School District, and we are incredibly pleased about the proposed changes to standardized testing. Our district strongly focuses on supporting the whole child, and the new changes will give us more time and resources to do this. We thank the Shapiro Administration for listening to the concerns and focusing on doing what is right for our students."
Dr. Chris Caton, Director of Curriculum for Northgate School District: "Transitioning our secondary students from online testing using their Chromebooks, a tool that they are already familiar with and use every day, was a logical step for us. This move not only mirrors the modern learning that we really value, but also levels the playing field for all of our students through the embedded tools and support that it offers. I'm excited about the shift towards assessments that reflect 21st century learning paradigms, such as the new steel standards for science. By moving away from traditional standardized tests, which struggled to really assess complex skills, we're embracing assessments that mirror our classroom practices."
Carrie Wynn, Student at Northgate High School: "I believe that most of us agree that standardized testing is not something that we happily anticipate. From taking the PSSAs in elementary school, to taking the SAT in preparation for college, these high stakes tests are quite daunting tasks. There's a lot of pressure to receive a good score and represent my school in a positive manner. As I have taken almost all of my standardized tests using paper and pencil, that idea of switching to an electronic device made me quite nervous. However, when I actually took the test, the online format felt familiar. Now that much of my schoolwork is done on a Chromebook, as previously mentioned, it felt no different from doing normal homework. I cannot stand here today and say that moving to online testing has made me more excited for testing, but it was not the nerve-racking change that I had anticipated. In fact, it was more similar to the way we learn in class than the paper tests. While they still aren't fun, they made these tests less stressful for me, and I think moving to online testing will be good for students too."
Christina Costello, Director of Curriculum & Instruction at Northwestern School District: "Students have and are growing up in a digital world and are entering an increasingly digital work environment. The pandemic showed us that it is important for our students (and teachers) to be prepared for moments when digital learning is the only option. Therefore, our teachers realize the importance of incorporating digital skills into the curriculum and giving students more opportunities to learn and 'work' in a digital setting. Moving to online test-taking for both PSSA and Keystone assessments has made the testing process much less stressful for our students. It has become a seamless connection to what our students are already learning and doing in the classroom; it has just simply become a natural extension. We are now able to provide our students with a stress-free environment that mimics what is happening day to day in the classroom; we have found this to be a true reflection of their learning. In addition, the administration of the assessment itself is not only quicker, but the schools get the results faster. Our teachers can then use these results to support our students for both instruction and scheduling for the following year."
IU 5 Executive Director Brad Whitman: "Transitioning assessments online will better represent the learning that is happening in classrooms across the Commonwealth each day, will prevent answer sheet misalignment, reduce stress for students and educators, and return results much more quickly. The Shapiro Administration's response to how we approach test-taking demonstrates attentiveness to feedback from Pennsylvanians, and we look forward to continued innovation and collaboration to support our schools."
Adam Held, District Assessment Coordinator at Neshannock Jr. High School: "I was glad to see that the Governor introduced a plan for all schools to transition to online assessments. As a District Assessment Coordinator at a school that has already taken this step, I can attest to the amount of time and resources that are saved by utilizing the online testing resources through PAeDirect and the DRC Insight Test Engine. The redundancy of tracking serial numbers on test booklets and matching them to PA Secure ID Numbers of students across multiple content areas, on multiple tests, is no longer an issue once a school embraces online testing. Additionally, the ability of the online test to provide the audio accommodation individually, to those students who qualify, helps keep our students with disabilities working at a pace that meets their individual level of need."
Read what people are saying about the Governor's plan to reduce the reliance on standardized testing and help more students succeed in the classroom below.
Associated Press: Shapiro says Pennsylvania will move all school standardized testing online in 2026
Chalkbeat: Pennsylvania students must take state standardized tests online by 2026
90.5 WESA: All Pa. school standardized tests, including PSSAs, to move online by 2026
WTAE: Pennsylvania governor makes announcement about changing standardized tests
PennLive: Pa. to ditch pencils and paper, move standardized tests online
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