On March 4th, 2009, the Rendell administration announced a new direction for an old proposal – mandating Graduation Competency Assessments on local school districts. These Graduation Competency Assessments (GCAs) are still being advocated in Pennsylvania, but it has been given a new name – “Keystone Exams.”

 

Despite claims by the Rendell administration that this is a new approach to graduation requirements, the Keystone Exam model is more of the same bad policy and will do little to achieve the goal of educating Pennsylvania’s children to compete in a 21st century economy. While we can all agree that we should do all we can to help our children succeed in a competitive global economy, GCAs, Keystone Exams or whatever other name is given to such mandated graduation tests, are not the way to achieve that goal.

 

The Rendell administration has made much of the claim that these new Keystone Exams would be voluntary and that school districts will have a choice on whether to administer them or a locally developed test. What the Rendell administration is not saying though is that the state will still have the final say in the development and use of these tests, thus removing all local control and discretion in this matter. Instead of just changing the window dressing on the old test, we need to completely redesign the testing process to create a more streamlined model that will provide an accurate assessment of student achievement. 

 

Perhaps the most troubling thing about the Keystone Exam model is the cost. Gov. Ed Rendell has spent a lot of time talking about Pennsylvania’s financial crisis and our growing budget shortfall. Given these financial realities, it is astounding that his administration would argue in favor of spending tens of millions of dollars to develop these exams and to create another layer of bureaucracy to approve and control them. Additionally, if we are to believe the Rendell administration’s claim that the exam will be voluntary, there is no guarantee that a single school district will even use the test. At a time when state government is spending more money than it has, it is irresponsible to ask taxpayers to pay for the development of a test that could easily go unused.

 

Furthermore, it has been estimated that the costs of bringing students who do not pass the test up to speed through remediation could reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars, and studies indicate that 90 percent of those costs will be borne by local taxpayers. An added financial burden of that magnitude will force local school districts to increase property taxes. Pennsylvania homeowners are already facing great financial pressures that threaten to force them from their homes. The Rendell administration’s willingness to place yet another mandate on them is clear evidence that they do not appreciate the enormity of the challenges Pennsylvania’s families are facing. 

 

More tests will not educate our children. Our limited resources would be better spent improving curriculum to ensure student proficiency. Keystone Exams will actually increase the amount of time students spend taking tests which will necessarily decrease the amount of time they spend learning the skills that will prepare them for life after the classroom. 

 

Pennsylvania taxpayers should not stand for Gov. Rendell’s unwise investment in these tests that will only result in property tax increases after he leaves office. I urge anyone who opposes this misguided policy to contact the governor’s office and tell him that they support improvements in actual education, not more tests and more bureaucracy.