Key Points Educators/Parents Should Know About the New PSSA
(Source: Pennsylvania Department of Educa@on)

·  This past spring a new PSSA was administered in Pennsylvania’s classrooms, grades 3 through 8, in English Language Arts and Mathematics.

·  This assessment was the ﬁrst PSSA to be fully­‐ aligned to the more rigorous PA Core Standards, which the State Board of Education adopted in fall 2013.

·  The PA Core Standards are intended to better prepare commonwealth students for college and career readiness when they graduate.

Key Points Educators /Parents Should Know About the New PSSA

(Source: Pennsylvania Department of Educa@on)

· 	 The heightened difficulty of the PA Core and the limited time between final adoption and implementation of the new PSSA have resulted in fewer students scoring proficient or advanced.

· 	 Other states have experienced similar results when making the transition to more rigorous standards.

· 	 A thorough transition to the new standards requires time to develop new curriculum, train teachers, and provide resources to support the new curriculum.

· 	 The 2014­‐15 school year marks year one of what will be a multi­‐year transition.

· 	 With time, and as student and teacher familiarity with the new PA Core grows, student performance should steadily improve.

“It isn’t useful to compare these student results directly to past results, because the tests are diﬀerent. Student performance hasn’t changed, but the test has changed considerably in some grades.”

­‐­‐ Nicole Reigelman

Pennsylvania Department of Education Press Secretary

Why did Standard Setting Take Place?

·  The 2015 PSSAis a new assessment
·  The PSSAis, and always has been, criterion­‐referenced
·  As required by Chapter 4 regulations, performance levels must be established for the exam
·  There is no way to create the associated cut scores without first administering the exam
·  This is not new and has been done with every Pennsylvania StatewideAssessment developed
·  If standard setting did not take place, there would be no performance level scores for the 2015 PSSA

Grade
	Reading 2013­‐14 % Below Basic or Basic
	ELA 2014­‐15 % Below Basic or
Basic
	Math 2013­‐14 % Below Basic or
Basic
	Math 2014­‐15 % Below Basic or
Basic
	
3
	29.7
	37.9
	24.9
	51.5
	
4
	31.1
	41.4
	23.7
	55.5
	
5
	39.4
	38.0
	22.8
	57.2
	
6
	35.5
	40.2
	28.0
	60.2
	
7
	27.9
	41.4
	23.3
	66.9
	
8
	20.4
	41.7
	26.4
	70.1

PercentageofStudentsScoring Basic or Below Basic on PSSA
(Statewide Comparison)

*ReadingAssessment was renamed ELAAssessment and includes Writing.

School – Grade
	Reading (State)
	Reading (Shaler)
	Math (State)
	Math (Shaler)
	
Burchﬁeld – 3
	62%
	83%
	48%
	63%
	
Jeﬀery – 3
	62%
	92%
	48%
	80%
	
Marzolf – 3
	62%
	83%
	48%
	74%
	
Reserve ­‐3
	62%
	87%
	48%
	57%
	
Rogers – 3
	62%
	74%
	48%
	63%
	
SAES – 4
	58%
	61%
	44%
	41%
	
SAES – 5
	62%
	68%
	43%
	38%
	
SAES – 6
	61%
	67%
	40%
	33%
	
SAMS – 7
	59%
	62%
	33%
	22%
	
SAMS ­‐ 8
	58%
	62%
	30%
	22%

Keystone Exam
	2015
	2014
	
Algebra I
	67%
	71%
	
Literature
	78%
	82%
	
Biology
	69%
	63%

Keystone Exam
	2015
	2014
	
Algebra I
	81%
	86%

ShalerArea High School

ShalerArea Middle School

DISTRICT –WIDE

®  Focused professional development and professional learning communities (PLC’s) on the use of FormativeAssessment.

®  Ongoing implementation and training to support ProjectACE to create innovative and engaging learning spaces for our students.

®  Continual professional development and monitoring of English LanguageArts and Math curriculum in transition to PA Core Standards.

®  Professional Development on writing, questioning and metacognition K­‐12.