Failing grade for Keystone Exams
WEST CHESTER » The Keystone Exams are getting a failing grade from both school administrators and students.
Not a single presenter at a recent meeting at West Chester University spoke favorably of the exams that are scheduled to require students to earn a passing grade to graduate from high school.
Speakers included, school administrators, students, parents, test givers and elected officials.
West Chester Area School District Superintendent James Scanlon has fought graduation tests on the state and federal levels.
“I understand that the intent is accountability, but this is just not a good way to measure student progress,” Scanlon said. Scanlon said he favors accountability. “I believe in very high standards for our students,” Scanlon said. “I do believe that tests can
be a good thing. But not the way we are being forced by the state and federal government to give them.”
The state graduation test requirement was pushed back a couple of years. As it now stands, students from the Class of 2019 will be required to pass Keystone Exams in reading, biology and algebra.
“Even a straight ‘A’ student who doesn’t do well on the Keystones won’t receive a diploma, under state law,” Scanlon said.
State Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19th Dist., said that 46 fellow senators, or all but three of his colleagues, support abolishment of the Keystone Exams as a graduation requirement. Several times, he regularly referred to Keystone tests as “absurd.”
“This bill ends the graduation test,” Dinniman said, referring to proposed legislation he supports in the state Senate. “Any one test should not be the determining factor for graduation. I’m not sure that anyone gets anything out of the Keystones.”
Dinniman, who is a member of the state Senate Education Committee, said that $1.3 billion has been spent on the Keystones, and some students do not have access to a biology text book or labs.
Mary Curley, communications director at Chester County Intermediate Unit, said that Keystones will have an inordinate impact on scheduling, remediation practices and academic decisions.
“All these students are in limbo,” she said. “Imagine if you were about to enter your junior year of high school and not know whether or not you would be able to graduate based on a single exam.”
Keystone results are not made public until the following school year when it is a more difficult act.
Monica Reyes Pizano is a Reading Senior High School graduate.
“Some students prepare before the exam and fail, while other students do not prepare and pass,” she said. “The Keystone Exams are extensive and provide no direct benefit to the student body.”
Several of the speakers said that colleges do not consider an applicant’s Keystone Exam score unless a student fails.
Parent Quibila Divine focused on the impact of parents in the education process.
“For the busy, working, single parent, engagement may mean providing a good breakfast and seeing the children get to school on time,” Quibila said. “On the other hand, school teachers and administrators may think that family engagement is measured by the number of times a parent or caregiver is seen at school.
“Communication is the key to understanding the different viewpoints.”
Dinniman seems to agree.
“We are trying to restore the rights of parents to participate in their children’s education,” he said. “This is craziness. They’re depriving parents of having a role. It’s like saying you don’t even know your own kid.”
John Fallon, executive director of system partnerships and field study, talked about the advantages of having students instead take the PSAT and SAT tests.
Eight states are now using the SAT tests as a benchmark and in place of the state tests.
He said that for a large group of students, the SATS are “extremely accurate,” and with no cost to students.
“We’re breaking down the barriers of race, income and parental education,” he added.
Fallon said the SAT tests have typically been used as a barometer for success at the college level.
He said that emphasizing PSAT and SAT tests will help high school students “explore different career opportunities — a road map of careers.”