Assessments

President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) on December 10, 2015. This legislation reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA).

The Keystone examinations satisfy the federal accountability requirements of ESSA for high school students. Students are required to take the Keystone Exams for federal accountability purposes. Failure to do so will affect the participation rate of a Local Education Agency (LEA) and school.

The Keystone exams were designed to replace the Grade 11 PSSA and serve as one of Pennsylvania's high school graduation requirements. Keystone Exams will help school districts guide students toward meeting state standards. The examinations are end-of-course assessments designed to evaluate students' proficiency in Algebra I, Literature, and Biology.

The annual Pennsylvania System School Assessment is a standards-based, criterion-referenced assessment that provides students, parents, educators, and citizens with information about student and school performance in relation to academic standard proficiency. These standards for English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science and Technology define what a student should know and be able to do at various grade levels. School districts have the authority to design curriculum and instruction to ensure that students meet or exceed the expectations of the standards.

Every student in Pennsylvania in grades 3 through 8 is tested in English Language Arts and Math. Every Pennsylvania fourth and eighth grade student is tested in science.

Individual student scores, which are only available to their respective schools, can help teachers identify students who may need additional educational opportunities. School results are used by schools and districts to improve curriculum and instruction discussions and planning.

The State Board of Education approved "specific criteria for advanced, proficient, basic, and below basic levels of performance" in accordance with 4.51(a)(4) of the Pennsylvania School Code.

The ACT consists of four multiple-choice tests: English, math, reading, and science, as well as an optional writing test. These tests are intended to assess skills acquired in secondary school that are critical for success in postsecondary education. Each of the four multiple-choice tests has a score range of 1-36. The Composite score is calculated by averaging the four test results and rounding to the nearest whole number.

The ACT English test places the examinee in the role of a writer who makes decisions about revising and editing a text. Various rhetorical situations can be found in short texts and essays of multiple genres. Passages are chosen to reflect students' interests and experiences while also being appropriate for assessing writing and language skills.

The ACT mathematics test evaluates the skills that students typically acquire in grade 11 courses. The test material emphasizes the major content areas required for successful performance in entry-level college mathematics courses. Basic formula knowledge and computational skills are assumed as background for the problems. Still, complex formula recall and extensive computation are optional.

The ACT reading test assesses students' ability to read closely, reason logically about texts using evidence, and integrate data from multiple sources. The test questions center on the mutually supportive skills that readers must employ when studying written materials in a variety of subject areas. Questions will specifically ask you to identify main ideas, locate and interpret significant details, comprehend sequences of events, make comparisons, comprehend cause-effect relationships, determine the meaning of context-dependent words, phrases, and statements, draw generalizations, analyze the author's or narrator's voice and method, analyze claims and evidence in arguments, and integrate information from multiple texts.

The ACT science test assesses the natural sciences' interpretation, analysis, evaluation, reasoning, and problem-solving abilities. The test covers biology, chemistry, Earth/space sciences (such as geology, astronomy, and meteorology), and physics. The exam presents several authentic scientific scenarios, each followed by a series of multiple-choice test questions. The questions require you to recognize and understand the basic features of and concepts related to the provided information; to critically examine the relationship between the provided information and the conclusions drawn or hypotheses developed; and to generalize from given information to gain new information, draw conclusions, or make predictions.

The optional ACT writing test is an essay test that assesses writing skills taught in high school English classes and beginning college composition courses. The exam consists of one writing prompt describing a complex issue and offering three different perspectives. You must read the prompt and write an essay in which you develop your viewpoint on the subject. You may adopt one of the prompt's perspectives as your own or present one utterly different from those provided. Your essay must examine the relationship between your point of view and one or more other points of view.

The SAT is a college entrance exam that is used by the majority of colleges and universities to make admissions decisions. The College Board created and administers the SAT, a multiple-choice exam.

The purpose of the SAT is to assess a high school student's readiness for college and to provide colleges with a single point of comparison for all applicants. The importance of SAT scores in the college application process varies by school.

The PSAT/NMSQT® (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test), also known as the Preliminary SAT, is a practice version of the SAT exam. The PSAT can only be taken once per year, and many students take it in both 10th and 11th grade. If you score well on the PSAT in your junior year, you may be eligible for a National Merit Scholarship—$180 million in merit scholarships are awarded to students each year. The PSAT lasts 2 hours and 45 minutes and assesses your reading, writing, and math skills. Unlike the SAT, the highest possible PSAT score is 1520.

The Advanced Placement (AP) Exams are standardized tests that are designed to determine how well a student has mastered the material and skills taught in a particular AP course. There is a final exam at the end of the school year for most AP classes; however, there are a few classes that use other methods to evaluate what you've learned. For instance, AP Art and Design students submit portfolios of their work to be graded.

The ASVAB is a multiple choice test administered by the United States Military Entrance Processing Command and is used to determine qualification for enlistment in the United States Armed Forces. It is often offered to American high school students when they are in the 10th, 11th and 12th grade. Although the test is administered by the military, it is not (and never has been) a requirement that a test-taker with a qualifying score enlist in the armed forces.