Mar 8, 2022 4 min read

The Pennsylvania Department of Education on Friday released results from the 2020-21 standardized tests, and scores fell sharply in most categories.

But state education officials cautioned the numbers were distorted because of COVID-19 conditions.

Participation in statewide testing, which traditionally is about 99%, fell to about 71%. The PDE attributes the drop-off to several factors, including pandemic-driven school staffing issues, transportation problems, and building closures.

English scores in the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams for grades three through eight were down 3.5 to 7% statewide. Math scores fell 7 to 11%. In science, scores for fourth-graders were down about 2%, and for eighth-graders about 7%.

The Keystone exam participation at the high school level in English language arts and science was so low that there were not enough eligible testers for reporting. The Keystone literature exam, typically administered to 10th-graders, was hardest hit, taken by just 9% of students.

Individual school level PSSA and Keystone Exam results, and other school information, can be found at Future Ready Pa Index, www.futurereadypa.org.

State Department of Education Deputy Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education Sherri Smith acknowledged that this year’s test scores were far from the norm, and said making comparisons to previous years’ scores would be “improper.”

Pennsylvania will not be using the test results for school performance accountability or teacher evaluations.

“Historically, standardized assessment results have been an important part of understanding school performance and our work to close achievement and opportunity gaps. But this year’s results are anything but standard. We recognize that the global COVID-19 pandemic brought tremendous challenges to the school year, impacting students, teachers and staff alike, as we worked to protect the public health and safety of everyone in our classrooms,” said Smith.

“As Pennsylvania reports this federally required data, it urges caution in interpreting results, given the unique learning conditions over the past few years,” she added, saying the results shouldn’t be viewed as a complete, representative sample of all students in the commonwealth.

Dr. Jesse T. Wallace III, superintendent of Laurel Highlands School District, said the dip in test scores reflects the challenges all school districts faced in educating students during the pandemic.

“I can look at the empirical data and determine that the pandemic had a definite contribution to the state decline. The ebb and flow of pandemic challenges make it hard for children to learn,” said Wallace. “We’re trying our best to keep our kids in school and bridge all educational gaps due to COVID, and continue to move forward.”

Dr. Kevin Monaghan, superintendent of Central Greene School District, said the lower tests scores indicate the importance of in-person instruction, despite school districts’ efforts to provide virtual learning.

“Not every child can learn virtually,” said Monaghan. “I feel that everything was so fragmented, and there was a lot of structure missing that allows for foundational growth. This year, we see a little bit of a greater sense of normalcy, with kids back in the school room, and students are doing much better when face-to-face instead of synchronous learning online.”

Pennsylvania State Education Association President Rich Askey said the 2020-21 school year was “anything but routine,” and the test results shouldn’t come as a surprise.

“We don’t need standardized test results to tell us that students have struggled over the past two years. The 2021 tests were administered during a global pandemic that disrupted public education and dramatically changed the way students learn,” said Askey. “Everyone would expect scores and participation rates to drop in this environment.”

Askey called the standardized tests administered during the pandemic “an exercise in compliance” that offer “a very incomplete measure of student performance.

“These standardized test results confirm what we already know: that Pennsylvania’s students are still recovering academically, socially, and emotionally from the effects of the pandemic,” said Askey. “Rather than focus on standardized test scores, we hope that school officials and state policymakers will access federal COVID relief funding to address pandemic-related challenges in our schools, confront an educator shortage that is reaching crisis levels, and help students succeed.”

Because districts were given the option to administer tests between the traditional spring window and September, the PSSA scores were released months behind schedule.