Approved Act 158 Keystone Exam composite score
On July 11, 2019, the State Board of Education approved the recommendation of the Secretary of Education for a satisfactory Keystone Exam composite score of 4452 that would be used as one of the pathways to graduation under Act 158 of 2018.
Under Act 158, a student may demonstrate proficiency for high school graduation through the Keystone Composite Pathway by earning a satisfactory composite score on the Algebra I, Literature, and Biology Keystone Exams (while achieving at least a proficient score on one of the three exams and no less than a basic score on the remaining two).
A composite score is the sum of the scale scores for the three Keystone Exams. A student must achieve at least a scale score of 1500 on any one exam in order to score proficient, with 4500 as the sum of three proficient scores.
The composite score of 4452 benefits the student by helping to ensure that a student who may have missed the composite cut of 4500 due to measurement error is not prevented from being able to graduate. Act 158 also requires that students who meet the composite score (4452) must also score proficient on one of the three exams and no less than basic on the other two. Approximately 65.4% of the 2017-18 grade 12 population scored at least 4452 and were proficient on one exam and at least basic on the other two.