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of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

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    Pennsylvania Accountability System (PAS)

    Pennsylvania's accountability system, as required by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), is administered by PDE's Bureau of Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction. This bureau is responsible for the development, administration, scoring, and reporting of the PSSA and Keystone assessments, and provides guidance to schools and LEAs on assessment and accountability reporting.

    The bureau's other assessment and accountability functions include:

    • Evaluating LEA, school, and student progress and reporting school performance for compliance with federal and state requirements;
    • Developing assessment anchors to better align curricula, instruction, and assessment practices;
    • Coordinating test development, administration, and reporting; and
    • Providing technical assistance for statewide and local assessment systems.

    Pennsylvania recently transitioned to a new statewide accountability system aligned to ESSA federal requirements. The federal law requires that states use certain accountability indicators – including academic achievement and progress, graduation rate, and progress for English Learners – for purposes of identifying schools in need of additional supports. States must also identify at least one other indicator of school quality or student success as part of their accountability indicators. Pennsylvania's two additional accountability indicators are the Career Readiness Benchmark (percentage of students engaged in career exploration and preparation) and Chronic Absenteeism (percentage of students who have missed more than 10% of school days in the academic year). Pennsylvania will use all of these indicators to identify Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) schools every three years, beginning in 2018-19.

    An important component of Pennsylvania's ESSA plan is the Future Ready PA Index, a comprehensive, public-facing tool that moves beyond a single, summative score to increase transparency around school and student group performance.

    Attribution Map

    The Attribution Map describes the school and district that is responsible for ensuring student participation in the state assessments, ordering test materials, and administering the tests. It also explains how PSSA, PASA and grade 11 Keystone Exam scores will be attributed for accountability purposes. The Attribution Map is updated annually, and the 2019 Attribution Map will be posted prior to the 2019 Grades 3-8 (PSSA and PASA) and Grade 11 (Keystone) Attribution Windows in DRC’s eDIRECT system. All communication regarding Attributions are communicated by DRC to the Assessment Coordinators in the school or district. For PIMS data, please use the PDE Attribution Rules supplement that is posted along with the Attribution Map.

    Trainings

    All trainings are conducted by the Division of Assessment and Accountability in the Bureau of Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction.  Training dates are posted with the PIMS Calendar and email broadcasts are sent to all PIMS Administrators on the list provided by the Office of Data Quality.

    Assessment and Accountability Trainings