The other side of PSSA testing

Jeff Hellrung’s May 8 Letter to the Editor of the Daily Local championing the current PSSA testing shows a lack of understanding of specifics of the PSSA testing procedures, the makeup of the tests, and how they are used. Clarification of these issues is provided below.

Hellrung: “These assessments are invaluable both to students and to their teachers and school district administrators.” Really? How can this be when teachers and school administrators can never see these tests, even after they’ve been administered and graded? There is no “audit” of the PDE’s (PA Dept. of Education) questions and grading. Only parents who are deciding whether to opt their children out can view the tests. Also, the individual Student PSSA Report that is given to parents months after the test is sketchy and does not provide adequate analysis of their child’s academic progression and skill sets. Evaluation of teachers and districts is unquestionably the primary purpose of the PSSA’s; assessment of students’ strengths and weaknesses is secondary.

In his statement: “Delivering these assessments once per year for six years is not excessive,” Hellrung neglects to mention that “once per year” encompasses four PSSA testing weeks blocked out of the school calendar for grades 3-8. This is extremely disruptive to the learning process and to school districts.

Hellrung scoffs at superintendents who “are howling that excessive high stakes testing is unfair and overly stressful to children.” Since his letter addresses the PSSA’s, he apparently has confused his terminology given that the term “high stakes tests” does not apply to PSSA’s, but rather to the three Keystones which PA has mandated to be graduation requirements. It is this requirement that superintendents oppose for legitimate reasons, but that is a discussion for another day.

To understand the stresses of the PSSA’s, access the website: [talesfromthetest.org] which presents pictures and descriptions of the atmosphere that permeates PA’s schools during the lengthy testing period.

Sample questions can be accessed from the PDE’s website. For third grade, for example, Google “PSSA Grade 3 Mathematics (or English Language Arts) Preliminary Item and Scoring Sampler.” Examination of the questions shows them to be age-inappropriate and likely to cause frustrations and distress to most young test-takers. One sample third grade reading passage is 3 pages long and contains different types of multiple choice questions, some of which have more than one correct answer and depend upon answering a previous question correctly. Try explaining that to a third grader. The sample math problems for third grade are as unsuitable, being wordy and sometimes requiring written explanations which could cause a child with language arts deficiencies to be inaccurately assessed in math. One subjective four-part math question contains over 150 words! In addition, some of the prob- lems require abstract algebraic-type thinking that is well beyond a third grader’s developmental age.

Who grades the subjective portions of these tests that are used to evaluate teachers and schools? Astoundingly, it is not teachers, but temporary employees hired by the testing company, who are reported to earn $11-$14/hour.

The primary function of this Common Core-aligned, massive testing program is to satisfy the federal government’s mandate for evaluation of teachers and schools. The current PSSA testing process is creating innumerable problems while providing minimal feedback to students. PA must devise a less disruptive and more appropriate assessment system in which students are the prime beneficiaries, in contrast to the current system, which exploits students and uses them as “operatives” for rating teachers and schools. To put a stop to this fiasco, parents should opt their children out of these tests. For information on the opt-out procedure, contact jyurchak@comcast.net. Joanne Yurchak

East Goshen

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