The English Language Arts assessment will address the use of effective reading strategies and students will be questioned about their comprehension of what was read. Students will also respond to writing prompts or questions. This assessment will provide a measure of a student’s ability to develop, organize, and express their ideas in a variety of writing modes. The Mathematics assessment addresses eleven major standards categories. Students will respond to both multiple choice and open-ended tasks in these tests. These assessments are intended to evaluate performances of individual students and to provide comparative data about the school’s English Language Arts and Math programs.
The Science Assessment will be administered to 8th grade students on May 2, 2017. The science assessment will address the four major elements of science: The Nature of Science, Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Earth and Space Sciences. Students will respond to both multiple-choice and open-ended questions.
A copy of the individual student results will be sent to the school district for distribution to parents, teachers, guidance counselors and principals. The state will not receive any reports with individual names included. Results will be reported by school for curricular and planning purposes. School districts will publish the results of PSSA testing for each school. The state will also release school-by-school assessment data.
Since the PSSA is designed to help determine the quality of school programs, all students in grades 7 and 8 will be included. If parents do not want their child to respond to a specific prompt or to participate in the assessment due to a conflict with their religious beliefs, they must first review the tests by contacting the High School Guidance Office on or after March 27, 2017. They must then write a note to the School District Superintendent, Dr. Amy Martell, to excuse their child from the assessment.
Please remember that we cannot achieve our best State Assessment results without your help and support. Please make sure your child is well-rested during the testing period and has a good breakfast each morning. Please let your child know that you value his or her doing his or her individual best on these tests.