Per Senate Bill 880, the use of the Keystone Exam as a graduation requirement or as a benchmark for the need for participation in a project based assessment has been delayed until the 2018-2019 school year. However, PDE will evaluate project based assessments (PBA) per the following:

– For students whose anticipated graduation date is pre-2019, PBAs currently in the queue will be evaluated by one external evaluator.  Schools will be notified of the disposition of each project.  If unsatisfactory, the project will be returned to the school and the student may work with the tutor to resubmit in order to earn a satisfactory mark.  

– For students whose anticipated graduation date is pre-2019, projects submitted after April 29, 2016, will be deemed satisfactory upon submission of the tutor’s evaluation verifying satisfactory performance.  

The goal is to have all projects for pre-2019 graduates evaluated no later than June 30, 2016.

For students whose anticipated graduation date is 2019 or later, the projects will be evaluated by two external evaluators.  imeline for turnaround will be communicated at a later date.

Questions may be directed to jinskip@pa.gov.