Gov. Josh Shapiro, an Abington native, announced on Thursday, April 18 that Pennsylvania’s standardized tests will be online by 2026.
The changes will be applied to exams like the PSSAs and the Keystone Exams and are intended to “reduce the amount of time students spend taking standardized tests, mitigate stress and anxiety around testing by adopting question types that match how students learn, help teachers spend more time teaching, and save the Commonwealth millions of dollars,” according to Gov. Shapiro’s press release.
Other benefits include saving Pennsylvania $6.5 million annually, saving 85,788,522 printed pages annually, and reducing the state’s carbon footprint through the reduction of printing, packaging, and shipping.
Online testing also ensures schools get results faster and allows educators to deliver accommodations to students with disabilities more discreetly, according to the statement.
The Shapiro Administration’s three-part plan to update the state’s standardized testing system includes implementing online testing over the next two years, adopting question types that allow students to use methods they are already familiar with (such as drag and drop, sorting and ranking, and graphic manipulation) and developing a free, optional benchmark assessment tool for schools to help educators better understand whether students are on track to succeed on end-of-year exams.
“I’ve made it a point to listen to the voices of students, teachers, and parents in my Administration, and I’ve heard loud and clear how much of a burden standardized tests can be,” Shapiro said. “The changes I’m announcing today will reduce that burden, shorten the amount of time students spend taking tests, and ensure schools get results faster so they can give students the support they need to succeed. Together, we can ensure that when our kids go to school they’re doing less testing and more learning.”
32% of schools in Pennsylvania have already begun to administer online assessments, the press release said.
For the full statement, you can click here.
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