The Pennsylvania Department of Education announced on Thursday afternoon the cancellation of all PSSA testing and Keystone exams for the 2019-20 school year as a result of COVID-19. This includes the Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment (PASA).
PSSA testing was scheduled to begin April 20 while Keystone testing was slated to start May 11th. Thursday’s news comes in the wake of Gov. Tom Wolf closing all Pennsylvania K-12 schools for at least the period of March 16-27.
“Our school communities are operating within unprecedented conditions,” said Secretary of Education Pedro A. Rivera in a press release. “Schools are making extraordinary efforts to remain connected to students and families, to provide food service and to put appropriate systems in place to continue student learning. Assessments should not be the focus of school leaders right now.
“To be clear, all assessments are cancelled for this year,” he added. “The department will submit the requisite waivers to the U.S. Department of Education (USDE), but no schools in the Commonwealth will be administering these tests this year.”
According to Rivera the decision was made in part due to ongoing and constantly updating federal guidance, as well as working with other states to advocate for flexibility. A press release by the department states that the USDE has already made clear that it will consider a “targeted one-year waiver of the assessment requirements for those schools impacted by…extraordinary circumstances.”
Testing was originally halted during the open PASA window on March 16th when all public schools were closed.
