It’s almost impossible to find common ground on Common Core.
Depending on who’s talking, Common Core is a set of national educational standards that will ensure American students can better compete in a global marketplace when they graduate—whether they’re bound for college or immediately entering the workforce.
Or Common Core is an insidious federal government takeover of local education.
At a July meeting in Quakertown, one objector called common core “socialism.” Another declared: “They’re turning us into a Third World nation.”
There's not even agreement about whether a Common Core initiative exists in Pennsylvania.
State officials insist Common Core standards were repealed back in March.
But opponents insist Common Core remains an active threat to the state’s educational system, simply operating under a different name.
Pennsylvania did adopt Common Core educational standards in 2010. But on March 1, the state’s board of education repealed Pennsylvania’s Common Core standards, replacing them with Pennsylvania core standards.
Beginning this school year, all 500 public school districts in Pennsylvania must follow those new state standards, said Timothy Eller, press secretary in the state Department of Education.
“Standards are statements of what students are expected to know and be able to do at specific grade levels,” explained Eller. “Standards focus on the essential concepts, knowledge and skills necessary for students to succeed.”
The core of the debate is not whether the standards serve to foster educational success for Pennsylvania's students, but whether adoption of the standards was a step toward federal government control over education. Although Common Core standards were not developed at the behest of the federal government, it did offer millions of dollars in grant money to encourage states to adopt them – and most states did.
Critics also maintain the Pennsylvania standards still are too similar to the Common Core standards they supposedly replaced.
“Do not believe what the Pennsylvania Department of Education tells you,” said Richard Felice, one of the founders of Pennsylvanians Against Common Core. “Pennsylvania does have Common Core.”
Felice said when the state changed the name of its academic standards from Common Core to Pennsylvania core standards, it simply “put lipstick on a pig -- and they want us to believe the pig is now beautiful.”
Larry Wittig, chairman of the state board of education, said Common Core standards in Pennsylvania were repealed in March because Gov. Tom Corbett wanted Common Core gone: “The governor had one mandate: ‘Get us out of Common Core.’ He did not want us to have anything to do with the Common Core.”
More than six months later, Corbett apparently decided the state has not yet gone far enough in replacing Common Core. On Sept. 8, he requested that the state board of education hold immediate statewide hearings to continue to review improvements to Pennsylvania’s academic standards.
In announcing that request, Corbett said Common Core has become overly influenced by the federal government and called it “nothing more than a top-down takeover of the education system. It is nothing more than Obamacare for education.”
The governor said his goal is to “ensure that any final influence of the national Common Core state standards is eradicated from Pennsylvania.”
“It’s a small step forward in ultimately chipping away at the framework of Common Core,” said Felice. “It’s the first time anyone in authority in Pennsylvania has taken a step in this direction and we embrace it.”
Felice had been anticipating the governor’s announcement, which came soon after he had a very brief meeting with Corbett, followed a couple of days later by a meeting with Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq.
“I believe the department is in lockstep with us to try to get the standards changed to a much high level of standards in the state of Pennsylvania,” said Felice.
“I’m not satisfied until this thing is totally out of Pennsylvania. But I am satisfied that someone finally is listening to us and they feel they have been educated enough that it is necessary to warrant a review of the standards.”
Felice maintains Common Core standards and Pennsylvania core standards are essentially the same, if not identical. “We’ve had experts look at the [new state] standards who concluded they are the indeed the same or very, very close to the Common Core standards.”
Wythe Keever, spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association agreed.
The state never repealed Common Core in Pennsylvania, but just revised and re-named it, maintained Keever whose organization represents 180,000 public school teachers and education support personnel.
“Ninety percent of the Common Core is still there,” said Keever. “It's just now referred to as the PA academic standards.”
Keever said PSEA is not opposed to the implementation of PA Common Core, “but we believe that educators and students need the appropriate resources and time to implement it.”
Against Common Core
Felice, who resides in Coatesville, said he is the eastern coordinator for Pennsylvanians Against Common Core. He said the group has about 5,000 members, adding: “We cover every county in the state.”
“We’re all volunteers,” said Felice. “We’re not getting anything out of this but what’s right for our children and what’s right for our country.”
Felice said Common Core standards are unproven, untested and being imposed by people from outside the state who have no teaching background.
“Common Core is in its infancy right now. It only deals with English language arts, algebra and biology. But this year they’re going to phase in American history and then they’re going to phase in science. Ultimately, these standards will control everything.”
“One of the biggest problems with Common Core is the local school boards are losing control,” Felice said.
“This program is all about control. That control ultimately will reside with the Department of Education in Washington."
“When the PA core standards-- which are the same as Common Core, are invoked-- 85 percent of the curriculum has to teach to Common Core. The local districts have, at most, 15 percent flexibility on how they can change their curriculums.”
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has maintained the federal government didn't write the Common Core standards, didn't approve them and doesn't mandate them – “and we never will. Anyone who says otherwise is either misinformed or willfully misleading.”
Education board chair says no fight in Pennsylvania
Wittig, the state education board chairman, has been president of the Tamaqua Area School Board for 19 years.
“Why would I be in favor of a federal takeover as a school board president? My allegiance is to the citizens of Tamaqua. If there was a scintilla of evidence to suggest that anything we do at the state level would impede Tamaqua from being independent, I would be livid. That’s not happening.”
Not many people know much about the issue, “including the critics,” said Wittig.
“I am a very conservative person,” said Wittig. “I consider myself a tea party guy, believe it or not. Less government is always better.
“I am probably right where those critics are in every way, shape or form -- except the difference is that I’m educated about what the Pennsylvania standards are.
“As far as the core standards are concerned, there is absolutely no fight here for the arch-conservatives. We put in the regulations no reading lists, no data mining and no national tests.”
Wittig said he voluntarily has talked to many groups concerned about the issue “so that they stop causing a fight where there is no fight. There is a fight to be had on Common Core, but this is not it -- not the Pennsylvania standards. I would be right there with them if this were that fight. It is not.”
He said if there would be a federal takeover of local education, he would lead the charge against it. “But that’s not Pennsylvania, that’s not what’s happening. It’s all misconceptions.”
Wittig said when he explains what’s going on with Pennsylvania’s academic standards, the response he gets from Common Core opponents is “don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind’s made up.”
“It’s a segment of the population that, I’m sorry, but we’ll never get to,” said Wittig. “I feel bad about that, because I empathize with them.”
“Standards don’t dictate curriculum”
Eller of the state Department of Education maintains that Pennsylvania's standards do not dictate the curriculum, textbooks, teaching methods, materials or instructional strategies to be used in the classroom. “These decisions are made by local school officials in consultation with parents and the community.”
“Federal law prohibits the federal government from getting involved in state educational curriculum issues,” said Eller.
Dr. Joseph Roy, superintendent of the Bethlehem Area School District, agrees that the standards do not dictate curriculum: “Districts use the Pennsylvania core standards as a roadmap when developing curriculum -- but districts develop their own curriculum and choose, textbooks, materials etc.”
Roy called Pennsylvania’s standards “a slightly revised version of Common Core, adding: “The uproar in some places about the content of the Common Core is misplaced, in my opinion.”
Roy noted Common Core raises concerns about greater federal and state control over school districts. “The loss of local control is a big negative,” said the Bethlehem superintendent. “But the Common Core really is a small part of that.”
“There has been a furor over the past year on this issue across the state,” said Eller. “There is such a misunderstanding of Pennsylvania has done and what Pennsylvania is not doing.
“Some people are just convinced that what we’re saying is not true. There is a faction of people, regardless of what you tell them, you’re a liar.”
Eller said Dumaresq, the state’s acting secretary of education, repeatedly has challenged residents to look at Pennsylvania’s academic standards and tell her what’s wrong with them or with which they disagree. He maintained no one has accepted her challenge.
“What we hear back a lot is the rhetoric about a federal takeover,” said Eller. “But we’re not getting strong arguments back about what is wrong with the standards Pennsylvania has put in place.”
“You can call the standards we have on the book now anything you want,’ echoed Wittig. “But I defy anyone to pick them apart and tell me what’s wrong specifically, chapter and verse.”
Yet that is precisely what his own governor now is inviting people to do, by calling on Wittig’s state board of education to hold immediate public hearings on the academic standards.
“The state board’s review will affirm that local control remains intact, and I am committed to ensuring that this continues,” said Corbett in a news release.
Wittig said the governor really is telling opponents of Pennsylvania’s academic standards: “We hear you people have concerns, that you think something is wrong. So we want you to examine these Pennsylvania core standards and tell us, with specificity, what’s wrong with them. Go to specifics because, if they’re that bad, we’ll change them.”
Continued Wittig: “All of these people who are making noise now have a pulpit. If they don’t take it, they need to shut up.”
Wittig predicted the hearings will give people an opportunity to show their naivety. “These people aren’t legitimate,” he said. “They like to be against something; they like to have a controversy.”
He added his personal opinion is “nothing’s going to happen because these people don’t react to truth. They react to hypotheticals. They don’t want to hear fixes. They want to argue. They want to hear themselves talk.”
What happens next
While Corbett called for immediate public hearings, they probably won’t begin until early 2015, according to Eller.
By mid-October, the state education department will create an interactive public website that allows state residents to weigh in on specific aspects of Pennsylvania’s academic standards, Eller explained.
That website probably will remain in operation through November.
The website won’t review actual academic standards, said Eller, but will focus on “eligible content”-- examples of concepts that students in different grade levels will be required to know based on those standards.
He said the actual standards contain terminology that is understood by educators, but the “eligible content” will put those standards into more readily understood language.
“It’s more of an average person’s understanding of what the standards are saying.”
Eller said the website will include examples of PSSA and Keystone exam test questions taken by Pennsylvania students.
People will be able to leave comments and suggestions on the website, said Eller. He said it’s one thing for people to say: “I don’t like it.” But what the education secretary really is looking for is: “What do you suggest go in its place?”
Eller said the website will give the public “a deeper understanding of exactly what the standards are calling for.”
“This will give the public the opportunity to say ‘Yes, ‘this stuff’s appropriate’ or ‘No, this stuff’s not appropriate’.”
Comments will be recorded exactly on the website, not interpreted by anyone, said Wittig, so people won’t be able to complain something they wanted included was not included. He promised those comments will be analyzed in detail to determine whether or not they are legitimate.
Information gathered on that website will go back to the state board of education, which will schedule statewide meetings.
Eller said the state wants to get feedback what it is about the academic standards that people are uncomfortable with before it goes on the road to explain the standards and get additional feedback.
He said the governor doesn’t like the Common Core concept and is suggesting: “Let’s look at what’s been done in Pennsylvania and let’s describe it in more detail and be more transparent about it. That’s exactly what this will accomplish.”
The number of hearings that will be held, and when and where they will be held, have not yet been determined, said the education press secretary. “Right now we’re in the information-gathering stage.”
More transparency needed?
Wittig said having new public hearings on Pennsylvania’s standards “is a great idea, although redundant. It’s something we’ve already gone through ad nauseam.”
State officials maintain public hearings were held on the state standards before they replaced the PA Common Core standards.
Wittig said opponents “think this is a big victory for them, that they’re now going to have the opportunity to comment substantively on these things, which they’ve had for the last four years.”
Eller said the state’s education secretary recently has acknowledged that the education department probably could have done more to have the public involved in the process when the state standards were being developed.
“We’re going to be vigilant,” said Felice. “We’ll check them for transparency and help them as much as we can.”
“What Secretary Dumaresq is doing is opening up the dialogue, allowing people -- parents, educators, students -- to input to the Department of Education their concerns relative to the standards.
“This was never done before in an open forum. Before they used to have meetings in Harrisburg and people had to travel to Harrisburg to get there.”
Politics
Whether hearings on the state’s academic standards are held in 2015 may depend on Corbett winning a second term as governor in November.
Said Parkland School District superintendent Richard Sniscak: “I am skeptical at the timing of this announcement and I can’t help but to believe that Gov. Tom Corbett’s call for hearings seems aimed at building political support for his re-election.”
Pennsylvania’s Republican governor is in a tough competition for re-election against Democratic challenger Tom Wolf.
When asked about the governor’s call for a public review of the state’s academic standards, Wolf spokeswoman Beth Melena accused Corbett of playing political games with education. “Even Tom Corbett's fellow Republicans have said they are 'disappointed' and criticized this decision as 'incongruous',” she said.
Among those Republicans are state Reps. Ryan Aument of Lancaster County and Seth Grove of York County.
They issued a joint news release on Sept. 8 declaring they “are frustrated and confused by Governor Corbett’s incongruous decision to conduct a public review of Pennsylvania’s academic standards.”
Aument and Grove said those standards were developed by Corbett’s own administration “to remove Pennsylvania from the grasp of the national Common Core standards.” They declared they are disappointed that the Corbett administration is considering reversing its own policy and “opting to further convolute public understanding” of the state’s standards.
“It’s essential we have the same players in play after the election,” said Felice. “Otherwise, Common Core is going to be with us for a very long time.”
Standards Available Online
The Pennsylvania standards, which are very detailed and cover many pages, can be viewed on the state department of education’s website.
Those standards are not exactly easy or entertaining to read, nor are they intended to be.
For example, here’s one for 12th grade math: “Apply and extend the properties of exponents to solve problems with rational exponents.”
Here’s one for 12th grade biological science: “Relate changes in the environment to various organisms’ ability to compensate using homeostatic mechanisms.”
And here’s one under 12th grade technology: “Compare and contrast the emerging technologies of telemedicine, nanotechnology, prosthetics, and biochemistry as they relate to improving human health.”
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association, which represents 498 of the 500 school boards across the state, does not have a position on the state’s core standards, according to Steve Robinson, its spokesman.
“While PSBA has raised questions and concerns regarding high school graduation requirements and testing based on feedback from school directors, the association is not advocating for dropping the PA Core Standards.”
Common Core History
The push for states to adopt Common Core academic standards was initiated in 2009, not by the federal government, but by the National Governor’s Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, which represents the heads of state education departments.
Their goal was to develop common core academic standards for all 50 states, rather than each state having its own standards, which varied widely.
About a third of American students require remedial education when they enter college, according to the U.S. Department of Education, and current college attainment rates are not keeping pace with projected workforce needs.
The U.S. also once was the global leader in college completion but now ranks twelfth in completion rates for young adults, according to the department.
In 2013, the high school graduation rate in Pennsylvania was 84 percent, according to Eller. The intent of the new standards is to improve student achievement and increase the number of graduating students.
Pennsylvania was one of 45 states that adopted Common Core academic standards at the beginning of this decade, during the administration of Governor Ed Rendell.
Common Core standards were implemented pretty quickly across the country because those two organizations represent all 50 states, explained Carrie Heath Phillips, program director for Common Core state standards with the Council of Chief State School Officers.
She said there was a consensus, and a bi-partisan initiative, among governors that the country needs an education system that will better prepare students for future occupations.
Only five states never adopted Common Core standards—Alaska, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas and Virginia.
Since then, two more have dropped out of Common Core – Oklahoma and Indiana.
Phillips of Common Core said South Carolina is rewriting its academic standards. “They could use the Common Core as part of that.” She said North Carolina and Missouri intend to review their standards to see if they want to make changes.
Phillips was not sure of Pennsylvania’s current status in regard to Common Core.
Pennsylvania remains listed as a Common Core state on the Common Core State Standards Initiative website.
Race to the Top Grants
The federal government was not involved in developing Common Core standards, according to the U.S. Department of Education, nor did it require states to adopt them.
However, a major reason most states so quickly jumped on the Common Core bandwagon is they needed to adopt Common Core standards to have a chance to win multi-million-dollar federal Race to the Top grants --- although having those standards did not assure states would win the grants.
Opponents of Common Core see Race to the Top grants as federal coercion, a means of wresting control from local school boards.
Wittig of the state Board of Education said the National Governors Association had a concept, but it needed a launching pad. “Race to the Top was the launching pad. Money was the only way to get this thing rolling.”
“Every state wanted to chase this money,” said Wittig. “The fix was in. In order to qualify for any money, we had to adopt the Common Core. If you didn’t adopt Common Core, you had no chance.”
All those states were prostituting themselves to get the money, said Wittig.
He said it wasn’t that all those states were in love with Common Core but that “they were chasing money. They were just doing it because they wanted the bucks.”
Wittig said Pennsylvania adopted Common Core standards “hook, line and sinker” in 2010, when he was on the board of education but not chairman, because it was trying to win a $450 million Race to the Top grant.
Pennsylvania did not get any money that first year or the second time the grants were available. He said only seven of the 50 states got grants.
Pennsylvania eventually did receive “Race to the Top” grants totaling nearly $93 million, according to Eller.
Eller said the federal government required states to have “college and career-ready” academic standards to be eligible to receive “Race to the Top” grants, but they do not have to be Common Core standards.
However, Phillips of Common Core said only states that had adopted Common Core standards won federal Race to the Top grants. But, stressing Common Core was just one factor considered in awarding the federal grants, she added many states that did adopt Common Core standards still did not win the grants.
Wittig said federal Race to the Top grants no longer are offered. “There’s no money in the federal government anyway; we’re broke.”
Felice of Pennsylvanians Against Common Core was unable to provide a link between the federal government and Pennsylvania’s academic standards since March 1 of this year, when state officials say Common Core was repealed.
Developing PA Standards
Eller of the state education department said Pennsylvania began reviewing its academic standards in 2008, before Common Core came along.
He said that after becoming governor in January 2011, Corbett reviewed the Common Core standards and decided they were not “Pennsylvania-specific enough.”
When Common Core was repealed by his state education board in March of this year, said Wittig, it went back to those “uniquely Pennsylvania” standards it had been working on.
”A lot of states are pulling out of Common Core and putting their own academic standards in place,” said Eller.
But Felice said states are just changing the name of their standards to get rid of “Common Core,” saying: “It became toxic because it was not state generated.”
“A lot of states are changing the name because of the toxicity of Common Core,” he said. “But in essence, every state has the same standards. The state is saying we have our own standards now, but in fact we do not have our own standards.”
“Our standards do align in some respects” with Common Core standards, said Wittig.
“What we did last March was take the best of both worlds and call them Pennsylvania standards.
“The sin we did as a state board was name them Pennsylvania core standards. ‘Core’ should not have been anywhere in that mix.”
Pennsylvania has not simply renamed the Common Core standards, said Eller.
He said the U.S. Department of Education use Common Core as a model of the academic standards states should be following. “Most states will follow it because they think it’s the best course of action.”
He said Pennsylvania took another course when it repealed Common Core standards and replaced them with its own. But he noted: “The Pennsylvania core standards that are in place were approved by the federal government.”
He said the state standards were created by two committees of educators from across Pennsylvania to determine what students should know; adding educators actively involved in the creation of those standards included classroom teachers, school district superintendents and college professors.
Despite repeated requests, Eller did not provide names of any Lehigh Valley educators who served on either of those two committees.
Eller said those committees did side-by-side comparisons of Pennsylvania and Common Core academic standards.
He said the state education board held hearings on the standards in three different locations across Pennsylvania between 2011 and 2013, and got input from educators and other state residents.
“Hundreds of people were involved,” said Wittig.
Said Felice: “I would like to know when and where that occurred. Who attended those meetings? Where they advertised? Were they open to the public?”
“This is nothing that was done in secret or in the dark of night,” insisted Eller. “The academic standards are there for public consumption. The sunlight’s shining on them.”
Added Wittig: “This wasn’t done on a whim, in some smoke-filled back room someplace.”
Eller called it “a lengthy regulatory review process, as mandated by the state legislature” but said the legislature does not actually vote to approve standards.
“Rigorous Standards”
Those committees decided to keep many existing state standards, but also incorporated Common Core standards. Eller indicated the state went with whichever standards were more rigorous.
That was confirmed by Dr. C. Russell Mayo, superintendent of the Allentown School District, who said Pennsylvania’s core standards “were ratcheted up” to be more rigorous than the national Common Core standards.
“We picked the best of both worlds,” said Wittig. ”The best doesn’t always mean the hardest.”
Saying one-size-fits-all does not work when it comes to public education, Felice argued that the academic standards lack the depth to prepare students for a four-year university education.
But Eller said having common academic standards across the state sends a message to colleges, universities and employers “that a diploma from a Pennsylvania high school is of high quality.”
Pennsylvania’s core standards “set the expectations for success in English, language arts and mathematics for all grade levels throughout the Commonwealth,” said Mayo of ASD. “Common expectations across the state are critical to competing globally.”
“The Pennsylvania core standards are designed to be relevant to the real world and reflect the knowledge and skills our students need to succeed in life after high school, in both post-secondary education and in the workforce,” said Sniscak, Parkland’s superintendent.
“We have aligned our curriculum to those standards and our students and teachers believe the curriculum to be more challenging.”
Common Core Legislation
Retiring State Rep. Paul Clymer of Bucks County, who chairs the House education committee, was not aware that state officials maintain Common Core was repealed in March – although Clymer serves on the state education board.
Until recently Clymer argued that Common Core had only been modified. “As far as I know, we have not removed it.”
As evidence, Clymer questioned why so much legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate to eliminate or modify Common Core if it already has been repealed. “No one has said to me that these bills are no longer valid.”
On Aug. 11, for example, State Rep. Gordon Denlinger of Lancaster County introduced legislation to repeal Common Core in Pennsylvania. In announcing his action, Denlinger stated he wants to “turn back the federal Common Core standards that have been imposed on Pennsylvania’s children and their teachers.”
In his news release, Denlinger maintained replacing Common Core standards with Pennsylvania core standards is “just re-branding a bad product in an effort to convince customers the serious problems we knew existed had been fixed.”
Denlinger stated: “Pennsylvania must lead the way in rejecting this continuous push toward the federalization of our educational system.”
“There is far more opposition to Common Core than there is support in the legislature,” said Clymer. “It’s bi-partisan, but Republicans are more aggressive in trying to eliminate Common Core. There are very few heroes standing up for it.”
Wittig, the state education board chairman, said without educating themselves about “what truly is in the standards,” members of a very conservative branch of the state Legislature “just repeat their constituents’ nonsense and say: ‘This is Common Core, we’re against it, do away with it.”
“The Legislature doesn’t know about it, that’s the problem,” said Wittig. “The people putting forth these bills are clueless.”
Wittig said politicians listen to their constituents because they vote, but just assume those people know what they are talking about without independently looking into the issue. He said they incorrectly assume “there must be something to this or all these people wouldn’t be upset.”
Public Criticism
As chair of the House education committee, Clymer has been harshly criticized by angry constituents for failing to get rid of Common Core in Pennsylvania.
When Clymer held a July town meeting in Quakertown, for example, one woman told him: “We have good bills. They are sitting there. You are our only chance to get these bills out. You are our voice. And everybody I talk to says Paul Clymer won’t bring anything up. You’re leaving. You’re supposed to be the chair of the education committee and we can’t get you to bring the bills up.”
Another woman at that meeting called Common Core “top-down federal control of education in our state.”
At that meeting, Clymer did not disagree with any of the opponents.
Clymer shares concerns about a federal takeover of education in Pennsylvania, although he sees no evidence that is happening. He stressed people must remain vigilant, especially if existing academic standards do not improve student performance.
He said Common Core is one of the top two or three issues he hears about from his constituents. “If it’s in my district, I’m sure it’s that way across Pennsylvania. It’s a very important issue and I take the issue very seriously.”
“The people who are expressing opposition are not just from an academically or social conservative group, but you have a wide range of educators, parents, business people,” said Clymer.
“And they are people whose opinions I respect. They’re not just firing from the hip. They are very conscientiously looking at this. They have gone to seminars, they have looked at videos, they have read books. They are looking out for the best interests of their children.”
Debate about more than standards
Felice said even an overhaul of the state’s academic standards will not totally remove Common Core from Pennsylvania.
“We cannot switch out of Common Core instantaneously because there’s a lot of legal and regulatory tentacles tied to this.” said Felice. “The quickest we feel we can get any substantial change is in the next 12-18 months.”
He said his group objects to the collection of private data on students, testing and the undetermined cost to implement and sustain the state standards. “It’s far more reaching than what anybody can imagine.”
Eller said Common Core often is accused of doing massive data collection on students, but that is not done in Pennsylvania. “Pennsylvania is in no way part of that. No additional information is being collected on students than what’s already required by law.”
Felice said the state maintains implementing standards will be cost neutral, but he claims that implementation won’t be cost neutral for local school districts. “Your real estate taxes will jump through the roof to fund this thing,” he said.
Felice’s organization estimates the standards will cost at least $650 million to implement in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania is allocating about $10 billion to public schools this year, said Eller. He said districts routinely align their curriculums with the state’s academic standards as part of their ongoing operations. “There is no additional cost to this.”
Keystone Exams
Pennsylvania students will be not required to take any kind of national exams under the standards, according to the state Education Department. They will take PSSAs (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment) and Keystone exams.
Eller said Keystone exams, which were first given in the 2012-13 school year, are aligned with Pennsylvania’s academic standards to ensure that students are being educated to those standards.
But the Keystone exams are themselves controversial. Critics say a state-mandated test has the same drawbacks as a national exam: It robs school districts of local control, they say.
“We need to get rid of these Keystone exams,” said State Rep. Clymer. “They need to be very carefully reviewed and scrutinized because I don’t think they are the kind of measurement we want for graduation. Let the school districts measure Keystone exams for graduation. That’s what local control is about.”
“The absence of order is chaos,” said Wittig; “If we did away with the Pennsylvania standards, it would completely undo the assessments of teachers, the assessments of principals and the Keystone exams are a significant move forward with regard to assessments.
“We truly want to have our kids better prepared for either a post-secondary experience or a job,” said Wittig. “The business community has been climbing all over us, saying these kids have to fundamentally understand mathematics at a simple level. So what is that? It’s Algebra I. You don’t pass it, you don’t graduate.”
Eller said there are three Keystone exams – Algebra I, biology and literature. Wittig said a school district can use the Keystones as their final exams for those subjects.
Eller said the exams are not taken in specific grades, but when students complete specific courses. For example, he said Algebra I traditionally is a ninth grade course, but some students take it in seventh and eighth grades.
Beginning with the class of 2017, students will be required to pass those exams in order to graduate.