State Assessments

State Assessments

Pennsylvania’s state assessments and accompanying accountability reports provide administrators and teachers with more opportunities to incorporate assessment data into their planning processes and instructional practices. By utilizing assessment data for continuous improvement, administrators and teachers can generate student growth and achievement goals in areas where the greatest opportunity for growth exists.

Overall, results from both the PSSA and the Keystone Exams provide the state, district, schools, parents, students, and citizens with growth and achievement data to measure district, school and student performance.  The individual student scores can be used to assist administrators and teachers in identifying students who would benefit from either enrichment or remediation in the tested content areas.  The assessment data also provides schools with information about the effectiveness of the curriculum and instructional strategies, as well as the quality of resources utilized.  Moreover, PDE suggests that utilizing the results of statewide assessments will assist school districts in guiding students towards meeting state standards.