Standardized test scores still down post-pandemic

Educators say results only part of data used to assess performance

The COVID pandemic hit public education very,very hard.

It shut down schools, forcing students and teachers to discover the ins and outs of virtual learning on the fly. It kept kids separated from their classmates, stymying the development of social skills.

Some students struggled, some fell behind. And many had their mental health impacted.

And it has all led to lower scores on standardized tests.

The state Department of Education recently released schoolby-school results from the 2021-22 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) and Keystone Exam tests. The results have been posted to the online Future Ready PA Index.

While the numbers look a bit better than they did a year ago, they’re still not great.

“Like states across the nation, we are not yet seeing test results at pre-pandemic levels,” Acting Secretary of Education Eric Hagarty said in a statement announcing the release of the results.

But Hagarty, along with local education leaders, say the results of the exams fall well short of telling the whole story about education in schools across the commonwealth.

“Student performance is generally improving year-over-year, and schools across Pennsylvania are working overtime to accelerate learning and meet students where they are at as we emerge from the pandemic,” Hagarty said. “We know that assessments show point-intime data that does not reflect the full scope of learning happening in classrooms across the commonwealth, and we expect student performance will continue to improve as students and educators proceed with a more normalized, uninterrupted year of inperson learning.”

Only one piece of data

Education leaders downplayed the importance of the standardized test results, saying they’re only one of many pieces of data they use.

Dr. Chris Trickett, Wilson School District superintendent, in Berks County, said he looks at the two sets of tests differently.

The Keystone Exams are taken by high school students after completing courses in literature, algebra and biology. Passing them is one way students can meet state-mandated graduation requirements.

“If you test proficient you get the green light to move forward for a diploma,” he said.

And while there are other ways students can meet the graduation requirement, Trickett said the pathway the Keystone Exams provide give them special value.

The PSSA exams, which are annual tests given to kids in grades three through eight, are a different story.

“They’re just a benchmark every year,” Trickett said. “They’re a snapshot in time of how kids are performing in those subjects at that point in time.”

Trickett said his district doesn’t look at results for individual students on the PSSA exams. A poor performance won’t lead a student to remedial courses or to repeat a class.

“We don’t think the test is reliable enough or relevant enough to put that much weight behind it,” he said. “It’s a data point, not the data point. It’s just one of the data points we use as we’re defining the profile of the kiddo.”

Trickett said a poor test performance can be the result of many different factors. It could simply be that the student had a bad day, or that they didn’t take the test seriously.

Trickett also said that only looking at test results for three subjects — English, math and science — doesn’t provide a complete picture of students.