West Chester school district mobilizes against Keystone Exams

A Chester County school district is ramping up the fight against the Keystone Exams, while more than half of Pennsylvania's state senators have signed on to a bill that would put a moratorium on using the tests as a high school graduation requirement.

This week, a widely shared letter by Jim Scanlon, superintendent of the West Chester Area School District - which consistently ranks in the top 10 percent in testing statewide - put a spotlight on opposition to the tests, which have outraged hundreds of parents, students, and educators across the state.

"You've got kids starting to give up," Scanlon said.

State Sen. Andy Dinniman (D., Chester) called Chester County the "epicenter for this whole movement," saying that even in its top-performing schools, educators and students say the tests are detrimental.

"The districts out here are saying, enough's enough. Who is the state and who is the federal government to tell us what to do?" Dinniman said.

Beginning with the Class of 2017, every Pennsylvania high schooler must pass the Keystone Exams in order to graduate, the state has mandated. The tests cover various subjects in math, science, English, and history.

Since the introduction of the tests as a graduation requirement, Scanlon said, he has seen a marked difference in morale at schools, and his district has spent $600,000 hiring teachers to provide remedial help to students who fail.

At schools without funding, and in some cases without textbooks or subject-certified teachers, the situation is worse, Dinniman said.

In West Chester, the school district's Legislative Action Committee, formed in January to oppose unfunded government mandates, hopes to persuade lawmakers in Harrisburg that the Keystone Exams should not be required for graduation.

A bill introduced in the House in January would make using the Keystone Exams as a graduation requirement optional for school districts. Dinniman's Senate bill would put a moratorium on it.

Neither bill has been brought out of committee, but Dinniman said he was optimistic: His bill has 28 cosponsors, more than a majority. It would put the moratorium in place until the state has provided equal funding for all schools and had time to analyze other means of student assessment, he said.

Jordan Guy-Mozenter, a senior at Henderson High School in West Chester, said he thought graduation requirements should assess other skills, such as the ability to communicate well.

"These tests, they really don't measure any sort of real growth that I've [had] over my public school experience," he said.

While kids feel hopeless, parents feel helpless, said Toni Keg, a member of the Legislative Action Committee and cochair of the district Parent Teacher Organization Council. She and her colleagues are hoping to target legislators who have not signed on to the bills, she said.

"Parents are in disbelief," Keg said. "After 12 years of school, how can one test say if they're a failure or not?"

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