There are numerous tests worldwide that must be completed by students. For example, PSSA’s, SAT’s and Keystones. Keystones are exclusively Pennsylvania based tests that are mandatory of all students in their high school years. I remember taking both my math and bio keystones my freshman year, and literally after barely passing by say 5 points, my hate for standardized tests really grew. While the math keystone can be taken in the 8th grade, if fortunate enough, bio is available in the 9th and 10th grade, and the english keystone is only offered in the 10th and 11th grade. The worst part is they are mandatory. There is no way bypassing these tests unless your excuse are religious reasons. Luckily for me, these tests are not mandatory to for graduating high schools like it is for the class of 2023 and above. So that means for students, like my brother, are required to pass all three of their keystones to even be standing at their graduation.

This is absurd considering the fact there are most definitely going to be students who will not be able to graduate with their peers because they did not score well on these tests. For comparison, it’s like stating students who do not score a 1200+ on the SAT are not allowed to be admitted into any colleges. It is not a fair evaluation of a student’s potential success later in life and should not be nearly as important as it is currently. Also the keystones being based on different level performances does not do it any justice either. Having students be ranked on a basis of below basic, basic, proficient, and advanced. For starters, having these differing categories are bad enough, but to state someone as below basic and basic is just cruel to say the least. Having someone specified to a certain label can make them feel insecure and incompetent about their abilities within school.

After doing some fellow research on the origin and history of the keystone exams, I have found some rather interesting details that I had not previously known. For starters the test was introduced in 2010 and consisted of many subjects like, English, Bio, Algebra 1, but also Chemistry, Civics, and Government. Thankfully these tests have been narrowed down to its three core subjects because chemistry and government were guaranteed fails for me. Also stated within this article are the motives behind the Keystones. “Establishing high school graduation requirements for students throughout the state; and providing a way for the state and the federal government to hold high schools accountable for educating students” (carautis). Don’t get me wrong, just like with most other standardized test, the keystone has the right idea but is just being executed in the wrong manner. I completely understand the idea of making kids responsible for learning and having a test to prove if students are doing what they are supposed to be doing. But making it mandatory in order to graduate just does not hold fair. Maybe I am being too critical of standardized tests because I am a bad test taker myself, or maybe there needs to be change in how these tests are handled to better fit every ones needs.

Also, within my school, kids were offered incentives for receiving a proficient or advanced on the test. If they received either one, they were given exemptions from final exams their senior years. Not only were people who failed these tests, not given any recognition, there were not given any rewards to push them forward and motivate them to do better.  Another crucial factor that can directly affect the students and the school are the dropout rates. With students learning the only way to graduate is with good grades and keystone testings, there are definitely going to be more dropouts as more students are going to find school even more difficult than before.

It just seems as keystones, let alone all standardized tests, should be revised or discarded as a whole. It just fills a student with a huge amount of anxiety and fear, as well as puts a huge burden on their shoulders to feel accomplished in life. High school should not be a competition, it should be a safe place for students as they learn their place in life. Pitting kids against each other as if it is an all out brawl is not doing any justice except for the kids who are sitting pretty at the top. It just boosts one kid’s self esteem and lowers another. It can be seen in the same light as GPA and class rank as it just puts students head-to-head instead of working together. I know this is true because I would always ask my friends, “what’s your GPA? or what’s your class rank? ” as I always seen it as a competition as well. Then I received my 4.0 GPA and my top 20% in my class rank and soon enough realized it meant nothing. Just like with tests, none of it matters at the end of day. These are just scores that have little to no predictive value of how a student may actually perform later down the road.

If it was not obvious already with my blogs, standardized tests are my least favorite things in the world as I feel they do not accurately represent a student. To sum it all up, correct idea, however, just poor execution.

Work Cited:

• https://www.carautismroadmap.org/history-and-current-status-of-keystone-exams-in-pennsylvania/#:~:text=In%202010%2C%20Pennsylvania%20passed%20a,History%2C%20and%20Civics%20and%20Government.
• https://www.pennlive.com/politics/2018/06/momentum_growing_for_killing_t.html#:~:text=Critics%20feared%20it%20would%20lead,complained%20that%20it%20was%20discriminatory.