Project Based Assessments Keystone Exams Project Based Assessments

Introduction Students who do not score proficient or above on the Keystone Exam after having taken the test at least twice, may choose to complete a Project-Based Assessment for the modules they did not pass. The PBA is not meant to be easier. It assesses the same Eligible Content at the same DOK as the Keystone Exam.

The Project is a Test Students can only work on the project at school. This includes any student in cyber school or a student who is homeschooled. Students must have a monitor to sign them into the website and remain present while they work on the project. The monitor can be an aide. Tutors are assigned to each student and should be certified in the content area.

The Project is a Test (Continued) Tutors cannot actually help students with the content of the project. Tutors can point students toward practice problems in the eligible content and provide some remediation based on student need in a particular area. The tutor must review the project at set checkpoints and “sign off” on the project before it is sent to the state for scoring.

Time Constraints Students must complete a project for each non-proficient module. Each project is supposed to take 5-7 hours to complete. The time frame to complete each project is determined by the district.

Scoring PBAs will be scored by statewide panels composed of teachers, principals, and curriculum specialist assembled by PDE. Projects will be scored according to rubrics developed by PDE. Projects are scored by two scorers. A third scorer will be added if the two initial scores do not agree. Projects are scored as Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory.

Scoring (Continued) Students can take the Keystone Exam even if they have started a project. If they pass the Keystone, the project does not need to be submitted. If a student received an Unsatisfactory score on a project, the project will be returned for corrections. Any teacher can apply to be a PBA evaluator.

Accessing Projects Students must complete the project online. Students may use an outside source to complete a problem (example: a graph in math) and this must be uploaded into the project. A student login for the test is good for one hour and work is saved automatically.