If school officials think making adequate yearly progress was difficult this year, wait until they give state tests this school year.
At least some of the changes in the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment will make it more difficult to achieve AYP, which is based on student achievement on math and reading tests, test participation, attendance and graduation rates.
The changes include eliminating a version of the test for certain special education students, replacing the 11th-grade PSSA exams with the new end-of-course Keystone Exams and offering an online version of the PSSA.
The tests will come on the heels of disappointing results for many school districts on the 2012 PSSA.
While 94 percent of school districts in 2011 made AYP, only 60.9 percent did so this year. In 2011, about three-fourths of schools made AYP, but this time it was 50.3 percent.
Click here to read the full article by Eleanor Chute published in the Pittsburgh Post -Gazette (September 24, 2012)
