Pa. Dept. of Education cancels PSSA, Keystone exams because of coronavirus

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) announced today that it is canceling all PSSA testing and Keystone exams for the 2019-20 school year as a result of COVID-19. This includes the Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment (PASA).

“Our school communities are operating within unprecedented conditions,” Secretary of Education Pedro A. Rivera said in the release. “Schools are making extraordinary efforts to remain connected to students and families, to provide food service and to put appropriate systems in place to continue student learning. Assessments should not be the focus of school leaders right now.

“To be clear, all assessments are canceled for this year,” he added. “The department will submit the requisite waivers to the U.S. Department of Education (USDE), but no schools in the Commonwealth will be administering these tests this year.”

PSSA testing was scheduled to begin on April 20.

Keystone testing was scheduled to begin on May 11.

The PASA testing window is open; however, all testing was halted on Monday, March 16, when all public schools closed, the release said.

AFT Pennsylvania President Arthur G. Steinberg issued the following statement in the wake of the announcement.

“I applaud Pennsylvania Education Secretary Pedro Rivera and Governor Tom Wolf for making the difficult, but correct choice to cancel statewide assessments for the rest of the school year," he said. "This continues to illustrate just how serious COVID-19 is and how serious the Commonwealth’s government is taking it.

“With schools empty and attempting to ensure all students receive the services to which they are entitled, the specter of standardized tests was never far from the minds of educators. This move provides much-needed relief of at least one level of pressure on the schools and students of Pennsylvania."

Rivera said the department is monitoring emerging federal guidance, working with other states to advocate for flexibility, and will pursue appropriate waivers to the fullest extent allowable as soon as the USDE guidance is clarified. The USDE has already stated that it will consider a “targeted one-year waiver of the assessment requirements for those schools impacted by extraordinary circumstances.”

Rivera said that PDE will continue to release information on the effects on accountability and school reporting as it becomes available.

The department has been providing ongoing guidance to school communities in the form of FAQs. The guidance information is available at education.pa.gov/COVID19.

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