PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It’s PSSA season at many Pennsylvania schools. Gov. Josh Shapiro announced changes to the standardized assessment tests to make them less stressful and time-consuming all around.
Shapiro’s plan has three parts. The first step is moving the tests online over the next two years.
“We know that students today do a ton of interactive learning on their computers, and online assessments actually do a better job of matching how they learn,” he said.
That would also ease the burden on teachers, he said, as they won’t have to pack and sort the physical tests, and results will be available quicker, allowing teachers to focus on any areas of need before the end of the school year.
The second part of the plan would allow for “technology-enhanced questions” instead of straight multiple choice questions, which “students can answer with methods like drag and drop, and sorting and ranking answers — the kinds of skills that they actually practice when they learn,” Shapiro said.
He said the questions are more interactive, easier to understand, and take less time to answer.
The third part is developing a free, optional benchmark for schools to help teachers and administrators see if students are on track.
Shapiro said he would love to do away with assessment tests completely, but Pennsylvania would lose out on $600 million in federal funding due to current education requirements.