For years, students of varying grades have taken the Keystone Exams and the PSSA tests at the middle school level. Next year, the state will begin a new mandatory test for the social studies courses, with a pilot program to be tested this year.
Penn-Trafford High School assistant principal Greg Capoccioni, the test coordinator for the Act 35 social studies test, said that the tests will be mandatory in grades 9, 10, and 11. Students in grades 10 and 11 will not have to take the previous test(s), and the first class that will have to take all three tests will be the current eighth grade class.
Given that the social studies curriculum is different for grades 9 through 11, the test will evaluate the students’ mastery of each subject.
“The test comes from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and the state government. Everyone received an email stating that it would be enacted starting next year and that we needed to prepare this year and create questions and the score, as well as when to give the exam itself,” Capoccioni said.
For the time being, the test scores will not be recorded on the student’s official transcripts as the Keystones are.
“[The Pennsylvania Department of Education] are giving each school the autonomy to create their own questions and how many there will be. We are looking into 30-40 questions and one open ended question here at the high school,” Capoccioni added. “We are going to try to keep it in one class period for the multiple choice and a little time for the open-ended as well. We are going to try to get into the everyday classroom, we won’t set a block of time for this test.”
The tests will focus on United States History, as well as Civics & Government. P-T teachers Tiffany Smith, Mark Crovak, Dan Edgerly, Nicholas Lynn, John Carlisle, Phillip Moses, Steve Weir, and Chad Waszo will be in charge of selecting questions that best suit the student’s grade levels.
“We are working with the teachers that currently teach the classes. The [Pennsylvania Department of Education] website has a bank of questions that meet the state standards, and we are pulling from that. We are not creating them from scratch,” Capoccioni said.
The teachers that these tests affect will be able to take a closer look at the curriculum and their own teaching to better their students’ educations.
AP U.S. History, AP World History, and Computer Concepts and Web Design teacher John Carlisle said, “This is not a Keystone. I think the need for it is that if you were to go around New York City and interview people and ask ‘what age do you have to be to run for president?’ you’re gonna get all ages, not 35. I think all students should have that knowledge. I don’t know when or why it started, but it is nice to have an assessment to see that.”
The school will be having a pilot program this year in order to look at the questions, validate them and look at their wording. This program will also allow teachers and the district to determine exactly how much time to allot for the testing, and if topics during lessons need to be further elaborated on.
Hannah Hizer, News Editor