Editorial: Don’t only delay Keystone Exam, end it

High school students can take a sigh of relief — but only for the time being.

Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Senate unanimously voted to postpone high school graduation exams, including the Keystone Exam, until the 2018-2019 school year.

The exam — which tested high school sophomores, juniors and seniors on algebra, literature and biology beginning in 2012 — required schools to alter curricula to prepare students for the exam as well as find staff to supervise student work. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Education devised the test to quantify how well students were learning the three subjects at Pennsylvania school districts, but it caused more grief than gain.

The Keystone Exams have proved to be a burden on both teachers and students more so than an advantageous tool that can gauge student and teacher progress. During the two year moratorium on the exam, Pennsylvania state legislators should pay more attention to the school districts the Keystone Exam has suffocated with its promotion of rigid curriculum and craft laws subsequently.

Both teachers and students have suffered from the implementation of the Keystone Exams — teachers often having to spend an inordinate amount of time and resources preparing students despite limited funding. The exam forces students to concentrate their time to passing the Keystone, often at the cost of other academic pursuits they may wish to follow while in high school.

Many teachers expressed disapproval of the Keystone Exams in front of the House Education Committee in Harrisburg last summer, and Hollidaysburg Area School District English teacher and Hollidaysburg Area Education Association President Jim Murphy is no exception.

“The Keystone Exams are supposed to be some indicator of kids’ education, but there’s broad gaps they haven’t covered. It’s not testing their whole education, it’s taking a small segment,” Murphy told The Pitt News.

Many students reported feeling inept after the Keystone Exams, often feeling like their needs as an individual student were being overlooked. Students also may feel as if their talents in the humanities and arts are being overlooked because they are required to focus their attention on passing one or more of the rigid, tested subjects.

“It seems like it squeezes out a lot of opportunities in the arts for kids who have to stay behind to pass a Keystone Exam when they could be in interesting electives. We have pretty good students who are put in remedial courses to pass Algebra I and it causes them a lot of anxiety,” Murphy said.

Not only do exams like the Keystone cause students anxiety, but a nine-year study by the National Research Council suggests standardized testing yields little learning progress and causes significant harm.

The study concluded that overusing tests breeds consequences such as narrowing the curriculum, teaching to the test, pushing students out of school, driving teachers out of the profession and undermining student engagement and school climate.

While the ceaseless incorporation of standardized tests in schools affects all students, students are more likely to be denied diplomas or placed on a lower track when they are from low-income and minority-group backgrounds. These students will only fall further and further behind with a dumbed-down curriculum, often causing minorities and students from underprivileged backgrounds to drop out of school.

A two-year break from a test that inhibits students from performing to their full potential isn’t enough.

The United States is the only economically advanced nation that heavily uses multiple choice exams to evaluate students. In lieu of the Keystone Exam, teachers should be evaluating student needs and progress through careful observation and documentation of work and behavior like the other nations that score highly on international exams, including Finland.

Our state’s legislators need to put the Keystone Exam to a complete stop. Teachers need to reclaim their classrooms and provide students with an interactive education that allows them to flourish in high school, not fail.