[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-587006-105":59,"doc-detail-587006-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","the-when-and-how-of-keystone-exams-in-the-school-district-of-philadelphia-april-2024","The When and How of Keystone Exams in the School District of Philadelphia - April 2024","","Addresses when and how Philadelphia School District students take and pass Keystone exams tied to Pennsylvania’s Act 158 graduation requirements effective for the Class of 2023. Reviews statewide pathway requirements and district goals to raise proficiency on Algebra I, Biology, and Literature end-of-course exams. Uses historical student administrative data from expected-to-graduate cohorts in 2017-18 and 2018-19 to describe course enrollment timing, exam attempt rates, same-year attempts, and first-attempt passing.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-when-and-how-of-keystone-exams-in-the-school-district-of-philadelphia-april-2024/587006/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-when-and-how-of-keystone-exams-in-the-school-district-of-philadelphia-april-2024/587006.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Fahsai","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-04","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What graduation requirements connect Keystone exams to earning a diploma in Pennsylvania?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Pennsylvania requires students to demonstrate career or postsecondary preparedness through graduation requirements under Act 158. Two pathways—the Keystone proficiency and Keystones composite pathways—depend on proficiency on Keystone end-of-course exams for Algebra I, Biology, and Literature.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What specific aspects does this brief investigate about Keystone exams?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It examines when students first take Keystone-associated courses and how they perform, what share attempts Keystone exams, how often students attempt an exam in the same year as their first course attempt, and how common it is to pass on the first exam attempt.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What data and time period are used for the analyses?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The study uses historical administrative data from Philadelphia School District student ninth-grade cohorts expected to graduate in 2017-18 or 2018-19, before the Act 158 requirements linked Keystone performance to graduation.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},587006,1792208792,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},549768702563,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/8000c4aa63b76e948b?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1786536092046926083","The When and How of Keystone Exams in the School District of Philadelphia  \nApril 2024  \nIntroduction  \nTo meet statewide graduation requirements and receive a diploma, Pennsylvania high school students now need to demonstrate career or postsecondary preparedness through graduation requirements outlined in Pennsylvania’s Act 158, which went into effect starting with the Class of 2023. Two of the five graduation pathways—the Keystone proficiency and Keystones composite pathways—require demonstrating proficiency on Pennsylvania’s end-of-course subject exams for Algebra I, Biology, and Literature, or “Keystone Exams.”1 In December 2020, in anticipation of this policy shift and the need for additional Keystone performance monitoring and support, the School District of Philadelphia’s (SDP) School Board adopted and began monitoring the goal to increase the share of students who are proficient on all three state high school assessments by the end of their 11th-grade year to 52% by August 2026.  \nTo better understand District Keystone proficiency rates and to improve them, it would help to know more about when students take Keystone-associated coursesand exams and how they fare. When do District students typically enroll in these courses? When do most students take their Keystoneassociated exams? And how do students do in their courses and upon their first exam attempts?  \nThis brief aims to address these foundational descriptive questions about the “when” and “how”of Keystone exams in the District and is the third in a series of PERC research on the implications of Act 158 for the School District of Philadelphia. In our first report, we outlined the new graduation requirements defined by Act 158, described the evolution of the policy, and summarized some relevant research about high-stakes graduation requirements and their equity implications. In our second report, we applied the policy requirements to historical cohorts to show the potential implications of the policy for the District, finding that less than half of students were close to meeting the graduation requirements through the Keystone proficiency or composite pathways, with wide variations by student characteristics (e.g.  \nrace/ethnicity, economic status) and across schools. In this third report, we describe the timing and circumstances in which students have historically taken their Keystone exams to help inform the strategies for when exams are taken to support more students to achieve proficiency.  \n1 For students that cannot meet Keystone requirements, the policy articulates “alternative pathways” to graduation, e.g., obtaining an industry-based competency certification, successful completion of a service-learning project, or completion of an internship or cooperative education program, among others. See more about the policy in the PERC brief published in 2022: [https://phledresearch.org/changing](https://phledresearch.org/changing)requirements-brief/  \nResearch Question  \nThis brief asks the question: Historically, what have been the circumstances within which students take and pass their Keystone exams? In more detail, this brief explores:  \n• When do students first take Keystone associated courses (see definition inbox below) and how do they fare?  \n• What share of students attempt Keystone exams?  \n• How common is it for students to attempt a Keystone exam in the same year as their first attempt at the associated course?  \n• How common is it for students to pass Keystone exams on their first attempt?  \nThese descriptive analyses offer a critical first step in understanding patterns ofwhen and how students arrive at the Keystone exams and how successful they are in those exams.  \nData and Methods  \nTo answer this question, we examined historical School District of Philadelphia’s student administrative data from the ninth-grade cohorts expected to graduate in 2017-18 or 2018-19 . These students were in school prior to the new Act 158 policy requirements that tie pe","cbCaithnEu7bFQmt","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaithnEu7bFQmt","pdf",267337,13,"English","# Introduction\n## Research Question\n## Data and Methods\n## Key Terminology","[{\"question\":\"What graduation requirements connect Keystone exams to earning a diploma in Pennsylvania?\",\"answer\":\"Pennsylvania requires students to demonstrate career or postsecondary preparedness through graduation requirements under Act 158. Two pathways—the Keystone proficiency and Keystones composite pathways—depend on proficiency on Keystone end-of-course exams for Algebra I, Biology, and Literature.\"},{\"question\":\"What specific aspects does this brief investigate about Keystone exams?\",\"answer\":\"It examines when students first take Keystone-associated courses and how they perform, what share attempts Keystone exams, how often students attempt an exam in the same year as their first course attempt, and how common it is to pass on the first exam attempt.\"},{\"question\":\"What data and time period are used for the analyses?\",\"answer\":\"The study uses historical administrative data from Philadelphia School District student ninth-grade cohorts expected to graduate in 2017-18 or 2018-19, before the Act 158 requirements linked Keystone performance to graduation.\"}]","The When and How of Keystone Exams in the School District of Philadelphia - April 2024 | PDF",1792060432,33]