Frequently
Asked Questions - Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA)
Reading and Mathematics Assessment
Grades 3 - 8 and 11 - March 2008
Information for Parents or Guardians
What is the PSSA designed to do? The PSSA is designed to provide information about the quality of
schools to parents, school districts, and the general public.
Who is participating in the assessment? Students in grades 3 - 8 and 11 in all 501 school districts will take
the reading and mathematics assessments. Since the assessments are
designed to help determine the quality of the school programs, all
students are to be included in the assessments, except for a few students
who meet specific criteria. Nonpublic and private schools may
participate on a voluntary basis.
How long are the assessments and when will they
occur? The reading and mathematics assessment will take approximately six
hours. The assessments will be scheduled by the school
districts to take place during the testing window in March. Your
school district should inform you about the assessment schedule.
What will the assessment include? Each student will answer three sets of items for each of the reading
and mathematics assessments. Examples of the types of items that
appear in the assessment are provided in Item Scoring Samplers available
on PDE's website at:
www.pde.state.pa.us. The samplers contain multiple-choice
questions, open-ended questions, scoring guidelines, and sample responses.
What will be assessed in reading? The reading assessment addresses two elements of the reading process.
Students will indicate (1) comprehension and reading skills and (2)
analysis and interpretation of fictional and nonfictional text
by answering multiple-choice questions where the correct answer is
chosen from four presented options, and by answering open-ended questions
that require students to write their responses.
What will be assessed in mathematics? Through the use of both multiple-choice items and open-ended items,
the mathematics assessment addresses the five major Reporting
Categories.The proportion of items devoted to each Reporting
Category varies by grade level. In addition, as part of the assessment of
Reporting Category, A, Numbers and Operations, students will respond to a
special section of items in which the use of a calculator is not
permitted. The open-ended performance tasks require the students to
show all of their mathematical work (calculations, graphs, drawings, etc.)
and to explain in writing how they solved the problems.
Who decided what the
assessment should measure? Groups of educators from all levels of education in Pennsylvania chose
the areas of knowledge on which the assessments are based. The
groups included teachers, supervisors, curriculum directors, and college
specialists. They also reviewed, edited, and approved the test
items.
Who will administer the assessments? Each school chooses the person(s) who will administer the
assessments. In most cases, these are the students' teachers, who
are often helped by the principal or guidance counselor.
How will the written responses be scored? The written responses for reading and mathematics items will be scored
by evaluators trained in applying a pre-determined scoring system.
In reading and mathematics, scores will be based on content only.
Spelling and punctuation are not included as part of the scoring
processes.
How will the results be reported? Reports for reading and mathematics will be sent to the school
districts for distribution to parents, teachers, and guidance
counselors and/or principals. The state will not receive any reports
with individual names included.
Results will be reported by school for curricular and planning purposes. School districts will publish the PSSA testing results for each school.
The state will also release school-by-school assessment
data.
Can parents (guardians) see the assessments? Once the assessments arrive at the school, parents (guardians) may
review the assessments by making arrangements with the school assessment
coordinator. Confidentiality agreements must be signed, and no copies of
the assessments or notes about items will be permitted to leave the
school. If, after reviewing the assessments, parents do not want
their child to participate in the mathematics or reading assessments due
to a conflict with their religious beliefs, they may write to the school
district superintendent prior to the beginning of the assessments to
exclude their child from the assessments.
