Modernize testing for cyber charter students in Pennsylvania

Dr. Erin Van Guilder and Dr. Michael Leitera

For thousands of Pennsylvania families, state standardized testing doesn’t just measure what students know, it exposes a system that is working against them.

Students enrolled in Pennsylvania’s 14 public cyber charter schools learn online every day, yet when it comes time to take the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment and Keystone exams, they are required to travel to in-person testing sites. This creates unnecessary burdens for families. Parents and caregivers must take time off work, coordinate travel, and navigate days of testing logistics, often across long distances. For many, especially those facing economic challenges, this is simply not possible.

Despite this, Pennsylvania holds all public schools to the same accountability standards, requiring cyber charter schools to spend millions millions of taxpayer dollars re-creating testing infrastructure across the commonwealth.

Unlike school districts, public cyber charter schools serve students across the entire state. To meet in-person testing requirements, cyber charter schools must rent space at facilities across the commonwealth and send their teachers and support staff to these sites to proctor the assessments. The rental fees for these spaces, in addition to technology costs, student transportation and lodging for staff who spend days at their assigned location, cost Pennsylvania taxpayers millions of dollars every year.

The worst part is that both exams are already being administered online. That’s right, public cyber charter school students are being forced to travel to rented facilities, paid for by taxpayer dollars, just to take an online test.

Aggregated and publicly reported standardized testing results are not a true measure of learning. It is a flaw in the system. Under Pennsylvania’s Every Student Succeeds Act Plan, when a school’s state testing participation rate falls below 95%, non-testing students are designated as nonproficient. This means students who cannot take these tests due to their inability to access testing sites receive this label  not because of what they know but because of barriers to participation. Schools above the 95% participation rate face no such penalty.

This practice does not measure what students know. It distorts performance and disproportionately impacts schools serving geographically dispersed students.

This is not a failure of public cyber charter schools. We operate in full compliance with Pennsylvania law, adhering to the same accountability standards as every public school. But compliance with the current system does not mean the system itself cannot improve. There are practical, student-centered solutions.

If we are committed to transparency and accuracy, accountability must reflect student learning, not access to a testing location. We already trust students to learn online. Public cyber charter students complete coursework, formative assessments and benchmark assessments in secure digital environments throughout the year. Beyond K–12 education, high-stakes exams like the SAT, ACT, GRE, and LSAT are administered using secure, technology-enabled platforms.

Pennsylvania should allow public cyber charter students to take the PSSA and Keystone exams online through secure, monitored platforms that could include a virtual live proctor who maintains the integrity of the exam and can assist students with technical difficulties. Thisapproach would maintain test integrity while eliminating unnecessary travel, reducing costs and ensuring that public funds remain focused on instruction.

To address the negative impact of the 95% participation rule, the Pennsylvania Department of Education should review options for non-attending students that do not include counting them as nonproficient in publicly reported school results.

Public education must evolve to meet the needs of students, not force students to navigate outdated systems. Public cyber charter schools are a growing and essential part of Pennsylvania’s educational landscape. Our state policies should reflect that reality. It is time to align Pennsylvania’s standardized testing system with how today’s students learn, in order for academic achievement and growth to be accurately reflected.

Dr. Erin Van Guilder is chief executive officer for Insight PA Cyber Charter School. Dr. Michael Leitera is CEO of PA Distance Learning Charter School.