THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE RESOLUTION

INTRODUCED BY PICCOLA AND DINNIMAN, JULY 23, 2009

REFERRED TO EDUCATION, JULY 23, 2009  

A RESOLUTION

Encouraging the State Board of Education to adopt the final-form

regulation, Reg. No. 006-312, establishing new high school

graduation requirements, and development of voluntary

Keystone Exams for use by school districts in this

Commonwealth to ensure our high school graduates are ready to

compete in the 21st century in our global economy and succeed

in the arena of higher education.

WHEREAS, A February 2009 study by The Pennsylvania State

University found that many of this Commonwealth's 500 school

districts failed to appropriately measure whether their students

can perform at the 11th grade level in reading and math in order

to award high school diplomas; and

WHEREAS, One in three high school graduates requires

remediation in math or English in the Pennsylvania State System

of Higher Education universities and community colleges, costing

taxpayers $24 million annually; and

WHEREAS, In the 2006-2007 school year, 43% of the students

who graduated from Pennsylvania high schools had not scored at

grade level in the 11th grade math and reading Pennsylvania

System of School Assessment (PSSA); and

WHEREAS, Pennsylvania began moving toward a system of

accountability in public education with Executive Order 1996-6

on September 30, 1996, which formed the Governor's Advisory

Commission on Academic Standards; and

WHEREAS, This strong commitment to building accountability

has been bipartisan through Republican and Democratic

administrations; and

WHEREAS, The first set of standards, Reading, Writing,

Speaking and Listening and Mathematics, went into effect January

16, 1999; and

WHEREAS, The PSSA was developed in the 2000-2001 school year

to assess the academic standards and became the mechanism by

which the Commonwealth complies with the No Child Left Behind

Act of 2001 (NCLB); and

WHEREAS, As a natural extension of the creation of the

standards and first level of assessments in the system of

accountability for the almost $23 billion of Federal, State and

local dollars spent each year on public education, the State

Board of Education in May 2007 announced its plans to consider

the development of Graduation Competency Assessments (GCAs); and

WHEREAS, From May 2007 through May 2008, the State Board of

Education held 22 meetings and public hearings with legislators,

parents, teachers, students, administrators, school board

members, business leaders and taxpayers and heard testimony and

concerns regarding GCAs; and

WHEREAS, In May 2008, the State Board of Education published

proposed regulations implementing GCAs and received 934 letters,

e-mails and resolutions in response to the proposed regulations;

and

WHEREAS, From May 2008 through May 2009, the State Board of

Education had 15 additional meetings and public hearings and

many informal discussions with education stakeholders, parents,

business leaders, students and taxpayers; and

WHEREAS, From February 2009 through July 2009, the Education

Committee of the Senate held three public hearings on GCAs; and

WHEREAS, As a result of the debates and deliberate

discussions arising out of the many meetings, public hearings,

informal discussions and legislative hearings, the chairman of

the State Board of Education engaged in developing a compromise

proposal in an attempt to find a resolution to the contentious

issue; and

WHEREAS, In July 2009, the chairman of the State Board of

Education announced a compromise on GCAs developed after

conversations with at least 60 legislators and education

stakeholders providing for development of voluntary Keystone

Exams; and

WHEREAS, The resulting compromise has the potential to

accomplish three purposes, serving as an end of course

examination in ten subject areas, satisfying NCLB Adequate

Yearly Progress requirements and replacing local assessments

where a school district voluntarily chooses to adopt the use of

the Keystone Exams; and

WHEREAS, The Keystone Exams would be optional for school

districts to use, counting as one-third of a student's overall

portfolio to pass a course, and the exams would be administered

at the completion of a subject, in some cases as early as the

7th grade; and

WHEREAS, The Keystone Exams would replace the 11th grade PSSA

for NCLB requirements, thus freeing up 18 hours of testing in

the classroom that can then be used for classroom instruction,

while allowing school districts the option of using one test in

place of three tests, including the current PSSA, local

assessments and classroom exams; and

WHEREAS, Classroom instruction will no longer be geared to

"teaching to the test," but rather the test will lead to and

reflect a renewed direction of student learning of the curricula

through the Department of Education's development of model

curricula and diagnostic tools; and

WHEREAS, School districts would be permitted to continue

using local assessments if the assessments are aligned to State

standards and validated, with the Commonwealth and school

districts splitting the cost of the validation; and

WHEREAS, In addition to being allowed to continue to use

local validated assessments, school districts would also be

permitted to substitute successful passage of Advanced Placement

or International Baccalaureate exams in place of utilizing

Keystone Exams; and

WHEREAS, The new Keystone Exams will be phased in over an

eight-year period, spreading out the costs for the exams, which

will allow the Commonwealth to realize savings through the

elimination of the 11th grade PSSAs, provide the opportunity to

seek Federal funding to help offset costs associated with the

exams and redirect close to $40 million to other educational

programs; and

WHEREAS, The proposed compromise gives districts the

discretion to allow students who perform at an advanced level on

any particular Keystone Exam prior to taking a course to "test

out" of the course and be granted course credits without needing

to take the course; and

WHEREAS, The compromise recognizes that some students do not

test well on standardized tests by permitting alternative

pathways based upon the Maryland Bridge Plan for students who

have difficulty learning, recognizing the need to continue

alternative measures of proficiency for students with an

Individual Educational Program and providing for a waiver by the

Secretary of Education for extenuating circumstances; therefore

be it

RESOLVED, That the Senate encourage the State Board of

Education to adopt the final-form regulation, Reg. No. 006-312,

to provide accountability for the almost $23 billion of Federal,

State and local dollars spent annually on public education and

to ensure that the Pennsylvania high school diploma provides

graduates with the tools to compete in the 21st century and to

succeed in the arena of higher education.