Current Action Alert ( sign up to receive AFA of PA Action Alerts
Education
Issues
Homosexual
Agenda
THE COST OF THE PSSA
(Pennsylvania System of School Assessment)
By A Concerned School Director in Northwestern PA
5/2/01
The PSSA is a very expensive test.
1. The contract cost in producing and scoring the PSSA has tripled over the last three years, going from $5 million in 1998-1999 to $15 million in 2000-2001.
2. The cost to promote the assessment is $34 million.
3. Local school districts bear the cost related to administering the assessments.
All combined costs bring the cost per assessment test to $60 per copy. In contrast, the Stanford
Achievement Test averages only $10 per copy, according to information from the Intermediate Unit.
The above dollar amounts are based on the following statistics:
Enrollment - from the Pennsylvania Department of Education website
Grade 5 168,830
Grade 6 167,152
Grade 8 165,960
Grade 9 173,667
Grade 11 138,815
Total of all possible students taking all PSSA assessments: 814, 424
Contract price of PSSA (contract price per copy $18.42) $15,000,000.00
Incentive Money $34,000,000.00
Combined Costs $49,000,000.00
Cost per PSSA copy $60.17
Total cost of using the Stanford @10.0/copy $8,144,240.00
Savings at PSSA contract price $7,000,000.00
Savings including incentives $41,000,000.00
For Additional information click here
copyright 2002 - 2008 --American Family Association of PA