Pa. Senate Votes to Delay Keystone Exams Requirement

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We told you last week that officials at schools in Philly and across Pennsylvania are preparing for a drop in the graduation rate in 2017, when passage of the Keystone Exams will be a requirement to get the diploma. But there may be a reprieve.

“By a vote of 49-0, the Senate on Monday passed a bill that would postpone using the Keystone Exams as a graduation requirement until 2019,” PennLive reports. “The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Lloyd Smucker, R-Lancaster County, delays for two years the graduation requirement for students to pass the end-of-course exams in algebra, biology and literature – or an alternative project-based assessment for those who have undergone remediation and re-taken the exams but didn’t achieve a passing score. ”

Statewide, passage of the Keystone Exams so far had been 54 percent.

The bill now goes to the Pennsylvania House for consideration.