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Big changes planned for the PSSA

With students getting ready to head back to school, Gov. Tom Wolf announced some big changes to Pennsylvania's standardized school tests that he says will lower the amount of time students spend taking the assessments.
Critics of the PSSA exams believed too much classroom time was spent on teaching material strictly for these tests.

HARRISBURG, Pa. — But the governor wants less time spent on preparing for the test, and more time dedicated to learning.

"We're looking at 10 days of testing just to get through the test itself," said Alisa King, director of Curriculum and Academic Affairs at South Allegheny.

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Some parents, students and educators have voiced concerns about the amount of classroom time spent on taking standardized testing for a while now.

And on Monday, the Department of Education and Gov. Tom Wolf responded to those concerns.

"Because for him it was not only about a policy move moving forward, it was really a quality of life issue,” said Pedro Rivera, Pennsylvania secretary of education.

Beginning in the spring of 2018, changes to the standardized tests will be made to allow teachers and students to focus their classroom time on learning skills they need to get a complete education, rather than just preparing for one exam.

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Testing sections will be reduced, which means students from third to eighth grades will spend an average 20 percent less time on testing.

Students below those grade levels will spend about 25 percent less time.

In the new plan, a section of multiple choice questions will be removed from the math portion of the test, shortening it by 48 minutes.

The English/language arts part of the test will be shortened by 45 minutes.

And the science part will be reduced by 22 minutes.

"We're preserving in fact, the effectiveness for measuring student progress,” Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, said. “We understand the accountability issue, we understand the need for understanding how we're doing in educating our children, we just don't want to spend as much time as we've been spending."

While these changes are specifically focused on grades eight and below, the governor says there could possibly be changes to the assessment system coming to the high school level very soon.

 

Associated Press

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