Moratorium on Keystone Graduation Requirement

SB 838 is currently in the Senate Education Committee. Information on Senate Bill 838 can be found HERE.  This bill will establish a moratorium on the use of the Keystone exams as a graduation requirement.

**UPDATE** (from Senator Dinniman's office):  
Six members of Senate Education Committee have signed (Senators Dinniman, Folmer, Leach, Teplitz, Tomlinson and Williams). Senators Smucker, Scarnati, Pileggi, Eichelberger and Browne have not signed on to the bill. Targeted letter writing campaign to the Education Committee, thanking the supportive members and encouraging the support of those yet to sign on would be great.  Should the bill get out of Committee, the support of Senators Scarnati and Corman are critical in bringing it to the Senate floor for a vote, so cc'ing Senator Corman could be helpful.  

**UPDATED ACTION REQUESTED:  
Please write to Senators Smucker, Scarnati, Pileggi, Eichelberger and Browne and urge them to support SB 838.  

Their email addresses are (copy and paste):  
lsmucker@pasen.gov, jscarnati@pasen.gov, dpileggi@pasen.gov, 
jeichelberger@pasen.gov, pbrowne@pasen.gov

Please go HERE and send Senator Corman an email through the form on his website.  He only gets emails through this form and its important he hears from people on this issue.

Sample letter (it would be valuable to include your school district and/or county and to share with them how the Keystone graduation requirement is impacting your child in just 1-2 sentences):

______________________________________________________________________________

Dear Senator ____________,  

I am a parent in _____________ school district, in ___________ county.  I urge you to support SB 838 which places a moratorium on the use of the Keystone exams as a graduation requirement until the Basic Education Funding Commission and the General Assembly determine and enact a fair educational funding formula.

The Project-based assessment is an unfunded mandate that deters from instructional time and student advancement.  SB 838 is urgent – this unfunded and burdensome graduation mandate is creating havoc in every Pennsylvania school district. 

Sincerely,
Your Name

______________________________________________________________________________

This is the letter I wrote, feel free to use this information in your letter:

I am a parent in _________________ school district in _______________ county.  I urge you to support SB 838 which places a moratorium on the use of the Keystone exams as a graduation requirement.  SB 838 is urgent – this unfunded and burdensome graduation mandate is creating havoc in every Pennsylvania school district. 

I have reviewed all 3 Keystone exams.  They are confusing, ambiguous and tricky with multiple plausible answers and teachers need to change instruction to accommodate the different methods covered in the tests due to scoring.  The test design is not assessing knowledge or achievement in an educationally valuable way.  It also concerns me that according to DRC and the PDE, the only pre-requisite for people who score the open-ended sections of Keystone exams is that they have proof of a college degree.  They are not required to have an educational background or experience in the subject they are grading.

The Keystone Graduation requirement is costing my school district over $250,000 this year for remediation and that cost is expected to significantly increase next year due to the class of 2017 taking the Biology and Literature Keystone exams this May.  I am concerned that there is no exemption to the graduation requirement for students who are admitted to college early or for students who have earned an NCAA scholarship. 

These are the current co-signers:

Republican co-signers
Senator Hutchinson
Senator Alloway
Senator Vulakovich
Senator Brooks
Senator Tomlinson
Senator McGarrigle
Senator Greenleaf
Senator Rafferty
Senator Folmer
Senator Ward

Democrat co-signers
Senator Teplitz
Senator Wozniak
Senator Tartaglione
Senator Fontana
Senator Yudichak
Senator Schwank
Senator Blake
Senator Boscola
Senator Farnese
Senator Haywood
Senator Leach
Senator Wiley
Senator Kitchen
Senator Costa
Senator Smith
Senator Hughes


To send an email to all members of the PA Senate Education Committee, copy and paste these:

lsmucker@pasen.gov, andy@pasenate.com, mfolmer@pasen.gov, jscarnati@pasen.gov, pbrowne@pasen.gov, jeichelberger@pasen.gov, dpileggi@pasen.gov, rtomlinson@pasen.gov, senatorleach@pasenate.com, senatorteplitz@pasenate.com, williams@pasenate.com

Contact information for each PA Senate Committee member can be found HERE

Morning Call article: Keystone Exams one big headache for Lehigh Valley school districts

Quick Facts

• 82% of Allen High School students scored below proficient in Biology and will have to retake and pass the exam or receive remedial instruction and complete a Project-Based Assessment
• “The overall impact of the tests and the magnitude it has in districts, it's unbelievable.” - Joseph Kovalchik, Northampton Area School District
•  “A disaster waiting to happen.” - Joseph Roy, Superintendent of Bethlehem Area School District
• "It's so overwhelming” - Prescious Correa, Sophomore at Dieruff High School 

Thanks to Dot O. for writing the letter and her help in getting this information.