PSEA Opposes Converting
Keystone Exams to Graduation Tests
HARRISBURG – Students should not be required to pass Pennsylvania’s Keystone Exams in order to graduate from high school, a move the State Board of Education has proposed that negatively impacts student learning, usurps local school boards’ power to set graduation requirements, and could cost school districts as much as $300 million, the president of Pennsylvania’s largest school employee union said today. Mike Crossey, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, encouraged members of the Senate and House Education Committees to join Sen. Andrew Dinniman (D-Chester) in opposing the regulatory change, which would convert the Keystone Exams from end-of-course exams to high-stakes tests on which students must score proficient in order to graduate. “This takes high-stakes testing to a dangerous and counterproductive new level,” Crossey said. “It replaces the professional judgment of a teacher who has observed a student’s work over a full year. We will have students who hav...