Description of the GCA plan

The GCA proposal approved by the State Board of Education on Jan. 17, 2008 would amend the existing regulations under Title 22, Chapter 4 as follows:

Beginning in the 2013-14 school year, graduation requirements must include:

• Course completion and grades
• Completion of culminating project
• Demonstration of proficiency or above as assessed and determined by the local board in each of the academic standards not tested by the PSSA or GCA.  
• Demonstration of proficiency or above in civics and government or history in any one of the 3 social studies GCAs  (Must pass 1 of the 3 GCAs offered in this content area)

• Demonstration of proficiency or above in state standards of : reading, writing, math, science & technology, and environment & ecology as assessed through any one or a combination of:
• 11th grade PSSA or 12th grade retest
• English composition GCA, Literature GCA, any 2 math GCAs and 1 science GCA   (Must pass 5 of the 7 GCAs offered in these content areas)  
• AP or IB exams that include academic content comparable to the appropriate GCA as a score established by the secretary of education to be comparable to the proficient level on the appropriate GCA.
• Locally administered, validated criterion referenced tests comparable to the GCAs.  Local assessments must be independently and objectively validated by a vendor selected by the school from a list of approved vendors. The list will be approved by the State Board and published every 5 years.  The secretary of education will select approved vendors through a competitive process that includes consideration of: 1) experience in the  validation of state and local tests; 2) appropriate use of generally accepted psychometric statistical methods; 3) references; 4) cost.  The secretary may issue an additional request for qualification prior to the end of the 5-year period if the demand for validation services exceeded the capacity of vendors. 

The school entity will contract and pay the cost of validating each local assessment. Each local assessment will be validated for a 5-year period. Material changes to the assessment for reasons other than replacing individual test questions of comparable rigor or revision of the state standards will require a new validation.

Approved vendors must consider the following criteria when determining whether a local test is comparable to a GCA: 1) tests are internally consistent and replicable; 2) they adequately measure and are aligned with the content in the state standards assessed by the GCAs; 3) level of difficulty is greater than or equal to the GCAs; 4) cut scores greater than or equal to the GCAs; 5) results of local tests correlate positively and significantly with related national and state criterion referenced assessments; 6) test administration, security and scoring regimes ensure that the integrity and validity of local test is maintained; 7) policy for annually updating test items ensures compliance with this listed criteria.

A student who does not score proficient or above on the 11grade PSSA or GCA administered in any grade must be provided supplemental instructional support by the student’s school entity.

Students will be deemed proficient in the state assessed standards when they demonstrate proficiency through any of the assessment options listed, regardless of the student’s grade level or age.

The proposal retains existing provisions for special education students. A student with disabilities who satisfactorily completes a special education program developed by an Individualized Education Program team under IDEA be granted and issued a regular high school diploma by the school district of residence.

The proposal eliminates the use of the existing PA Certificates of Proficiency and Distinction for each of the state assessed disciplines.

Beginning in the 2013-14 school year, GCA scores and validated local assessment scores will be included on student transcripts along with PSSA scores.

Individual GCA scores (and PSSA scores) may not be released to PDE or other commonwealth entities.

PDE must provide supports to districts & AVTSs including:

• Voluntary model curriculum in each of the content areas assessed by the GCAs
• Assistance in developing student tutoring, remediation and extended instructional time programs
• Opportunities for continuing professional education in each of the content areas assessed by the GCAs.

The entire text of the Chapter 4 proposal is at http://www.pde.state.pa.us/stateboard_ed/lib/stateboard_ed/Chapter_4_-_High_School_Graduation_Requirements_1-08.pdf