Not only will elementary and middle school students spend less time taking state exams, next year they will take them closer to the end of the school year.
Gov. Tom Wolf delivered that bit of good news about the high-stakes Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams in math, English literacy and science given to third through eighth graders at a Montgomery County middle school on Wednesday.
"We are continuing to respond to the concerns of students, parents and teachers about the amount of classroom time spent of standardized tests," he said to those gathered at Colonial Middle School. "After reducing the classroom time devoted to the PSSA and moving the test window to later in the school year, students and teachers will have more classroom time to focus on learning before taking the test."
In August, Wolf announced that the state exams to be administered this coming spring would be shortened by the removal of a section from the math test and one from the English test as well as reducing the number of questions on the science exam.
This allows the testing period to be condensed from three weeks to two weeks, allowing the exams to be pushed back to later in the school year. But since school calendars for the current school year are already set, this won't begin until next school year.
This move buys teachers extra instructional time to ready students for the exams, which are used in teacher evaluations as well as to meet the federal accountability requirements. So instead of the testing period starting April 9 as is the case in 2018, they will begin as late as April 25 in future years.
Maggie Cierpilowski, data and instruction specialist at Central Dauphin School District's South Side Elementary School, praised the move.
READ MORE: Coming this spring: a shorter PSSA
"As an educator, I feel the changes to the PSSA testing length and timeframe are beneficial to both educators and students. A more concise test allows educators to better gauge student understanding of state standards opposed to a lengthy test that may not accurately portray students' ability due to possible testing fatigue and/or test anxiety.
"Pushing back the testing window will afford teachers more instructional time to cover more content at a deeper level prior to assessment," she added. "As a public school teacher, I appreciate the efforts at the state level in reviewing current practices given the emphasis on these high stake tests."
It also drew similar praise from Pennsylvania State Education Association President Dolores McCracken, who said when it comes to standardized testing, "Governor Wolf gets it."
She said Wolf "understands that less time spent on testing allows for more time spent teaching and learning. This is great progress, and we look forward to continuing work with the governor on this issue."
The changes to the test and testing period grew out of comments made at meetings that the state Department of Education officials held over the past year or so as it put together the state's accountability plan to meet the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.
"For years, we have heard from many education stakeholders - especially parents and teachers - about the need to refocus on learning," said David Volkman, a former Susquehanna Township School District superintendent who now is an executive deputy secretary at the education department. "This improved schedule, along with the changes we made to the structure of the tests earlier this year, will address those concerns while maintaining the accuracy of the assessment."