Keystone & PSSA Testing

Groups of educators from across Pennsylvania chose the areas of knowledge on which the Keystone Exams are based. The groups included teachers, supervisors, curriculum directors, and college specialists. These groups also reviewed, edited, and approved exam questions.

Pennsylvania adopted the Common Core Standards, standards aligned with expectations for success in college and the workplace. The Keystones are designed to measure these standards.

The State Board adopted Core Standards in July 2010. Since that time, the decision was made to craft a set of PA Common Core Standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics. A group of Pennsylvania educators created a draft set of PA Common Core Standards. These new standards mirror the content and rigor of Common Core, but reflect the organization and design of the PA Academic Standards.

Additionally, the PA Core Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies and Science/Technical Subjects will be appended to their respective PA Academic Standards.

For more information visit https://www.pdesas.org/standard/commoncore

All items were written by experienced content experts, field-tested by Pennsylvania students, and scored by teams of experienced trained readers with at least a four-year degree and a strong content-specific background. All items have been reviewed by committees of Pennsylvania teachers to determine their appropriateness for each grade level. Items were chosen based on professional experience and knowledge of the most commonly made mistakes by students at each level.

Except for a very few students who meet specific criteria for participation in an alternate assessment, all students are included in the assessments as outlined here: ELA & Mathematics: Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8; Science: Grades 4 & 8

Each student completes four sections of questions for the English Language Arts assessment. Some portions will be the same for all students, and some will consist of different groups of questions.

The mathematics assessment addresses five major reporting categories across four clusters. The reporting categories assessed and the proportion of questions in each reporting category vary by grade level. As a part of the assessment of Cluster A, Numbers and Operations, students in grades 4 through 8 respond to a set of questions without a calculator. Constructed ­response items may require the students to show all of their work (e.g., calculations, graphs, drawings) and/or to explain in writing how they solved the problems.

Two copies of the individual student report for all assessments will be sent to all schools and districts that participate for distribution to parents, teachers, school counselors, and/or principals. The state will not receive any report with individual names included.

School level reports will be used for curricular and planning purposes. School districts and charter schools may publish the results of PSSA testing for each school. The state will also release school-by-school assessment data.