PA School Standardized Test Scores Lag Behind Pre-Pandemic Levels

PENNSYLVANIA — Most standardized state education test scores still haven't rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, a situation drawing criticism from at least one prominent Pennsylvania politician.

The state Department of Education this week released scores on the 2022 Pennsylvania System of State Assessments, known as the PSSAs. Students in grades three through eight are tested in math and language arts and in grades four and eight in science.

The annual PSSA tests are a standards-based, criterion-referenced assessment providing students, parents, educators and citizens with an understanding of student and school
performance related to the attainment of proficiency of the academic standards.

The PSSAs administered this spring provide a stark contrast between 2021-22 scores and those in 2018-19 before the COVID-19 outbreak:

• Third graders scored 52.3 proficient on this year's tests, compared to 61.9 percent in 2019.

• Fourth graders scored 52.2 percent, down from 61.9 percent.

• Fifth graders 53.6 percent, down from 58.5 percent.

• Sixth graders, 56.1 percent, down from 63 percent.

Those numbers are unacceptable to state House Speaker Bryan Cutler, who issued a scathing statement on them.

“This year’s abysmal PSSA scores, especially in the areas of language arts and biology, are another reminder that government forcing students to remain in a broken education system that is failing today’s students," he said in a statement.

Less dire in his assessment than Cutler, acting Secretary of Education Secretary Eric Hagarty noted that while PSSA scores hadn't returned to pre-pandemic levels, most scores had increased over the 2020-21 school year when many students still were learning remotely.

"Student performance is generally improving year-over-year and schools across Pennsylvania are working overtime to celebrate learning and meet students where they are at as we emerge from the pandemic," he said.

"We know that assessments show point-in-time data that does not reflect the full scope of learning happening in classrooms across the commonwealth, and we expect student performance will continue to improve as students and educators proceed with a more normalized, uninterrupted year of in-person learning.”