22 Pa. Code § 4.51 - State assessment system
(a) The
State assessment system shall be designed to serve the following purposes:
(1) Provide students, parents, educators and
citizens with an understanding of student and school performance consistent
with the Every Student Succeeds Act (Pub.L. No.
114-95 ).
(2) Determine the degree to which school
programs enable students to attain proficiency of academic standards under §
4.12 (relating to academic
standards).
(3) Provide information
to State policymakers, including the General Assembly and the Board, on how
effective schools are in promoting and demonstrating student proficiency of
academic standards.
(4) Provide
information to the general public on school performance.
(5) Provide results to school entities based
upon the aggregate performance of all students, for students with an
Individualized Education Program (IEP) and for those without an IEP.
(6) Assess student proficiency in the
Academic Standards for English Language Arts (Appendix A-2), Mathematics
(Appendix A-2), and, through June 30, 2025, Science and Technology and
Environment and Ecology (Appendix B), and, beginning July 1, 2025, Science,
Environment, Ecology and Technology and Engineering (Appendix B-1) for the
purpose of determining, in part, a student's eligibility for high school
graduation.
(b) The State
assessment system must include PSSA assessments and Keystone Exams.
(c) Neither State assessments nor academic
standards under §
4.12 may require students to hold
or express particular attitudes, values or beliefs.
(d) The Department will make samples of State
assessment questions, assessment formats and scoring guides available to the
public after each administration of State assessments.
(e) To ensure that information regarding
student performance is available to parents and teachers, State assessments
developed under this section must include student names.
(f) Individual assessment results shall be
used in planning instruction only by parents, teachers, administrators and
guidance counselors with a need to know based upon local board policy on
testing and in reporting academic progress.
(g) The Department and other Commonwealth
entities are prohibited from collecting individual student test scores and may
collect only aggregate test scores by school and district.
(h) The Board will authorize the expansion of
the State assessment system through a revision of this chapter.
(1) The Board will not include National
assessments as part of the State assessment system unless, upon consultation
with teachers, counselors and parents representing students who have been
identified under Chapter 14 (relating to special education services and
programs), the Board determines the assessment is an appropriate means of
assessing the academic progress of students identified under Chapter 14, or
unless the General Assembly authorizes the use of a National
assessment.
(2) Subject to
paragraph (3), the Board will not, and the Department may not, be a governing
state in any consortium for the development of a National assessment for the
purpose of utilization as part of the State assessment system.
(3) The Department may continue to
participate in a consortium to develop an alternate assessment to measure the
academic progress of students identified under Chapter 14.
(i) The Department will implement provisions
for security of the State assessment system, including the following:
(1) Action by a professional employee or
commissioned officer that is willfully designed to divulge test questions,
falsify student scores or in some other fashion compromise the integrity of the
State assessment system as determined by the school district, ACTS or charter
school, including a cyber charter school, shall be subject to disciplinary
action under the Educator Discipline Act (24 P.S. §§
2070.1a-2070.18c).
(2) Cheating by students or employees other
than those covered in paragraph (1) shall be subject to disciplinary action by
the school district, ACTS or charter school, including a cyber charter
school.
(3) Cheating or breaches of
assessment security shall be reported to the Secretary as soon as
detected.
(j) The
Secretary is authorized to establish guidelines for the administration of the
State assessment system.
(k) The
Secretary will report each September to the Board and the General Assembly
information and pertinent data regarding the State assessment system. The
Secretary also will provide each school entity information and pertinent data
for the school entity and its students.
(l) Children with disabilities and children
with limited English proficiency shall be included in the State assessment
system as required by Federal law, with appropriate accommodations when
necessary. As appropriate, the Commonwealth will develop guidelines for the
participation of children with disabilities in alternate assessments for those
children who cannot participate in the PSSA or Keystone Exams as determined by
each child's individualized education program team under the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act and this part.
Notes
The provisions of this § 4.51 amended under sections 121, 2603-B and 2604-B of the Public School Code of 1949 (24 P.S. §§ 1-121, 26-2603-B and 26-2604-B).
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