Are PSSAs Ruining Our Schools?

An opinion piece recently published in the Post-Gazette has created quite the buzz on Facebook.

Kathy Newman, an English professor and mother of a third grader, wrote that she is having her son "opt out" of this year's PSSA because the stressful tests "warp the educational environment." Her son attends Pittsburgh's Linden Elementary School.

Quaker Valley students in third through eighth grades began taking the PSSAs on Tuesday. Fifth grade took the tests last month.

The annual PSSA tests in reading and math are administered each spring.

Last year, Quaker Valley School District exceeded all proficiency targets established by the state Department of Education in accordance with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. As a result, the district and its four schools, including all subgroups, achieved Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP which a district’s graduation rate, attendance rates and student achievement.

We're asking our Sewickley Patch readers on Facebook if they support Newman's decision and what they think of Pennsylvania's standardized tests.

So what do you think? Will you join the "opt-out" of PSSAs movement? Tell us in the comments below.