COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION February 23, 2022, ‘The Honorable Curt Sonney Majority Chairman, House Education Committee 214 Ryan Office Building PO Box 202004 Harrisburg, PA 17120-2004 Dear Speaker Cutler and Chairman Sonney, ‘We write today in response to your February 18 letter regarding the 2021 Pennsylvania System School Assessment Results. PDE understands the sense of urgency and appreciates the patience from the Legislature and other stakeholders. We agree that State Assessment data are an important factor when determining school system needs and qualifying learning loss. Even so, the 2020-21 school yearresultshave proven especially difficult 0 compile effectively and responsibly In a typical year, Spring PSSA and Keystone Exams are administered in April and May. Theresults of those assessments are then published the following September or October. The process typically takes between four and five months. Due to the challenges inherent in COVID-19 mitigation measures, PDE extended the 2020-21 assessment window through September 30". Our goal in extending the window wasto maximize schools’ ability to comply with Federal law and administer the mandated assessments. The extension made it possible for many school systems, including Pittsburgh Public Schools, to administer the assessments responsibly. Unfortunately, the extension of the assessment administration window also delayed final compilation of the data accordingly. Final scoring began in October 2021. Final aggregation of the raw data continued through December. PDE received preliminary data files in early January. Then the Keystone Exam testing waivers from 2019- 20 had to be incorporated into the underlying rules before final files could be produced as Keynote Exam results are banked until grade 11. PDE received revised results in late January and reviewed those results with the Technical Advisory Committee the firs week of February. Largely duet COVID-19 related concerns, participation in the State assessments was down more than 25 percentage points that year (about 71% vs a typical 97%), Such low participation makes it challenging to discern whether the final results are valid, reliable, and representative of true student performance, These reasons account for the extra time it has taken to compile theresults for the 2020-21 school year. That said, PDE has compiled results and submitted them for publication on the Future Ready PA Index and PDE website on March 1* The files arein the Quality Assurance (QA) process now. In the interim, we plan to provide a preview of the results to school and district leadersas is customary. That preview will take place February 24-28, We again thank you for your concem and patience. We would welcome an opportunity to discuss the results of the 2020-21 assessment, and the inferences that might be gleaned from those results with you in coming days. Sincerely, Se 5 Noe Ortega Ph.D. / Secretary of Education © omteaotthe Secrtary 389 Market Stroet| Harrisburg, PA 17126] 717.796.7271 | F'717.767,7222 | www.edueation.pagov