TOWANDA AREA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL  

PENNSYLVANIA SYSTEM OF SCHOOL ASSESSMENT (PSSA)

The Spring 2010 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) grades 3-6 reading and math assessment will be administered to all 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th & 6^th grade Towanda Area Elementary School students.  These tests will be administered daily Wednesday, April 7^th through Wednesday, April 14^th.  Students will be tested in their homerooms or learning support classrooms, with teachers and other trained school personnel proctoring the test.

This assessment will take approximately 6-7 hours over the six days.  Students will be allowed additional time to complete the assessment, as needed.  Students will complete three sections for each of the reading and math assessments.  Examples of items that appear in the assessments are provided in Item Scoring Samplers available on PDE's website at:  www.pde.state.pa.us. 

The reading assessment addresses two elements of the reading process.  Students will indicate (1) comprehension and reading skills and (2) analysis and interpretation of fictional and non-fictional text by answering multiple-choice questions where the correct response is chosen from four options, and by answering open-ended questions that require students to write their responses.  Through the use of both multiple-choice and open-ended items, the mathematics assessment addresses five major reporting categories.  The proportion of items in each category varies by grade level.  The open-ended performance tasks require students to show all of their work and to explain in writing how they solved the problem.

The 2010 PSSA writing assessment will be given to all 5^th grade students on Monday, April 19^th through Thursday, April 22^nd.  This assessment will include a multiple choice section on revising and editing and three writing prompts, which require students to compose written responses.  Approximately 90 minutes will be provided for each of the four test sections.  Students will be given more time to complete each section, as needed.  The writing assessment provides a measure of students' abilities to develop, organize, and express their ideas in a variety of writing modes.  The assessment is intended to evaluate performances of individual students and to provide comparative data about the school's writing program.

The 2010 PSSA science assessment will be given to all 4^th grade students on Monday, April 26^th and Tuesday, April 27^th.  The assessment is comprised of two sections and will take two to four hours to complete.  Students will complete one section on each of the two days.  Four major elements of science will be addressed:  The Nature of Science, Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Earth Science and Space Science.  Students will respond to both multiple-choice and open-ended questions.

A copy of individual student results will be sent to the school district for distribution to parents, teachers, guidance counselors and principals. The state will not receive any reports with individual names included.  Results will be reported by school for curriculum and planning purposes.  School districts will publish the results of PSSA testing for each school.  The state will also release school-by-school assessment data.

Since the PSSA is designed to help determine the quality of school programs, all students in grade 3, 4, 5 & 6 will be included. If parents do not want their child to participate in the assessments due to a conflict with their religious beliefs, they must first review the assessments by contacting the Elementary School Assistant Principal, Mr. Wells or Guidance Counselor, Mrs. Farley.  Parents must then write a letter to the School District Superintendent, Mrs. Diane Place, to excuse their child from the assessment.

The Elementary School staff also reminds parents that we cannot achieve our best results without your help and support.  Please make sure your child is well-rested during the testing period and has a good breakfast each morning.  Let your child know that you value him or her doing his or her individual best on these tests.  Finally, please make every effort to have your child attend school on the days the test will be given. 

Thank you for your cooperation.