12/19/16
by News Department on 12/19/16PA Schools testing system doesn't cut it...
Parents, students and taxpayers in Pennsylvania will get a new look at how their public schools are doing under a proposed revamp of the statewide grading system that gives less weight to standardized testing.
Education Secretary Pedro Rivera unveiled Future Ready PA at the education department's annual professional-development conference this month.
Calling it the Future Ready PA Index, state education officials say the new grading system is meant to tell a more accurate story about Pennsylvania's 500 school districts. While testing would still play an important role in gauging school performance, officials say, other indicators of student learning and achievement would take on greater importance than they do now.
Future Ready PA wouldn't throw out the School Performance Profile indicators altogether, but would weight them differently, giving districts more credit for offering Advanced Placement and other challenging courses.
However, the Future Ready PA Index is still a ways off. Rivera said it could debut sometime next year. The administration hopes to get it enshrined into law.
