Statewide Graduation Requirements
Statewide Graduation Requirements
Like many states across the country, PDE has been holding schools accountable for student learning by requiring end of course exams for high school students and for years has suggested that passing all three Keystone Exams would eventually be used as a statewide graduation requirement.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education’s passage of Act 158 of 2018 attempts to alleviate the debate regarding Pennsylvania’s use of Keystone Exams as a graduation requirement. Act 158 was signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf on October 24, 2018, and expands high school graduation requirements to provide options for students who do not meet proficiency on the algebra, biology, and literature Keystone Exams. While Keystone Exams remain the statewide assessment that Pennsylvania uses to comply with ESSA high school accountability requirements, Act 158 relinquishes the necessity for Pennsylvania students to earn a score of proficient or advanced on each of the Keystone Exams as a statewide graduation requirement. As an alternative to using Keystone Exams as the measure of student learning and graduation readiness, Act 158 adds flexibility to Pennsylvania’s graduation requirements by providing several pathways by which students can demonstrate proficiency in tested subject areas to meet Pennsylvania’s statewide graduation requirement. Beginning with the class of 2023, Pennsylvania’s public school districts will be required to maintain accurate records as to which pathway each student satisfies to meet Pennsylvania’s statewide graduation requirements.
The alternate pathways all require students to earn a passing grade in the Keystone tested subject areas in addition to meeting other criteria specific to each option. For example, the "Keystone Composite Pathway" gives students the ability to fulfill the statewide graduation requirement by earning a composite score of 4452 on all three Keystone Exams (a student must achieve a score of 1500 on any one exam to score proficient). Additionally, the student must meet proficiency on at least one assessment and score at least basic on the other two. Should a student meet the composite score of 4452 and receive a below basic score on any one Keystone Exam, the student will not meet the statewide graduation requirement outlined in Option 1.
*Senate Bill 1216 was signed by Governor Wolf on November 25, 2020 and is now Act 136:
- Act 136 signifies any student who was to take a Keystone exam in the spring of 2020 (first time test takers enrolled in a keystone trigger course in 2019-2020) are determined to be proficient on that Keystone Exam if they passed the trigger course (Algebra 1, Biology, Literature).