Opposition by local school officials to state-mandated high school graduation exams has softened over the past year, now that schools will be allowed to substitute their own tests for the new exams and high school PSSAs will be eliminated.

But superintendents in Lancaster County still aren't very keen on the Keystone Exams, which won final approval from state regulators Oct. 22.

A survey of 10 Lancaster County superintendents found them divided on the merits of the new standardized testing program, with three supporting the tests, two opposing them and five undecided.

Barring a legal challenge, high schools next year will have to administer Keystone Exams or approved alternative tests in English literature, Algebra I and biology.

Over the next five years, exams in English composition, Algebra II, geometry and U.S. history will be added. Tests in chemistry, civics and world history will be implemented in 2016-17.

Beginning with the Class of 2015, students will have to pass the exams in literature, English composition, math, science and social studies to receive a diploma.

Eventually, students will have to pass at least six of the 10 tests to graduate.

To help teachers and administrators implement the new program, the state is developing a model curriculum for each subject and will offer professional development for teachers and tutoring for students.

Proponents say the Keystone Exams are needed to assure that all students are held to the same high academic standards. Currently, schools set their own graduation requirements.

A 2009 study by Penn State found that just 18 of Pennsylvania's 500 school districts appropriately measured their students' reading and math skills before awarding them diplomas.

Most Lancaster County superintendents support more rigorous high school standards, but many object to adding more mandatory tests for students already weary from years of PSSAs, 4-Sights and other standardized tests.

Others believe the Keystones are a good idea.

"I think this will be a better way to assess our students than the current method," said Amy Slamp, superintendent of Elizabethtown School District.

Currently, students take Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests in grades three through eight and in grade11 to comply with the No Child Left Behind law.

The 11th-grade exam is flawed, Slamp said, because it tests students on material they may have learned years earlier.

Keystone Exams, on the other hand, will be administered at the end of each course covering material students have just learned.

"If a student takes Algebra I in ninth grade, that's the time to get a true measure of their knowledge," she said. "I think the end-of-course exam concept is a better assessment."

Cocalico superintendent Bruce Sensenig agrees.

"It removes the pressure of a single test period crammed into a three- to four-week period," he said, referring to the PSSA. "It is an excellent concept."

Slamp said she's not concerned that E-town will have to revamp its curriculum to make sure it covers tested material because the district has been aligning its courses to state academic standards for several years.

"It will simply be some subtle tweaks we need to implement," she said. "This won't be a surprise to our staff."

Hempfield superintendent Brenda Becker is taking a wait-and-see approach to the Keystones.

"If we have good direction (from the state) on curriculum, and the exams are well constructed to include higher-level thinking, they may be a good thing," she said in an e-mail.

"If not, it is one more restriction on what we do."

Becker said she's concerned about students "who do not demonstrate their mastery well on pencil-and-paper tests."

"The challenge is that, like the PSSAs, it is one snapshot on one day," she said of the Keystones. "The key to the worthiness of these exams will depend on their quality."

While the new tests are designed to replace the 11th-grade PSSA, that won't happen right away.

The federal Department of Education must approve the switch, and it likely won't make a decision until it has analyzed a few years' worth of Keystone test results, Slamp said.

The prospect of making students take both PSSAs and Keystones beginning next year rankles Brian Bliss, Solanco assistant superintendent.

"This is a huge testing burden on students," he said in an e-mail.

"The pressures of NCLB are significant. All of this year's kindergartners through seventh-graders are required to be proficient in reading and math on the PSSAs by the time they graduate.

"These are the same students who will also need to pass these Keystone exams."

Bliss said the tests are being forced on schools too quickly, leaving them little time to implement them in a gradual way.

Students may end up being forced to pass several of the exams in a "high-stakes setting" as juniors or seniors, he said.

Solanco plans to use its own tests in place of the Keystones, Bliss said. To do that, the district must get them validated by a committee of state education and school boards association officials.

"We see our own exams as the best way for students to demonstrate proficiency," he said.

Other school officials object to zthe manner in which the tests will be scored and the fact they'll count toward so much of a student's final grade for each subject — at least 30 percent.

The tests will be graded on a 100-point scale, but students who fail to score at least "basic" will get zero points.

Proponents point out that students will have ample opportunity to retake the tests, which must be offered at least three times a year.

Aligning the curriculum to the tests and administering, scoring and tracking the results will be "a real management challenge" for schools, said Bob Hollister, superintendent of Eastern Lancaster County School District.

"It's going to take a lot of energy, effort and money — in material and time — to implement these," he said.

But what Hollister objects to more than the complexity and cost of the program is the limited content that will be tested.

"They're very traditional exams that I don't think measure the breadth of skills that we should be measuring," he said.

In addition to academic skills, students need 21st century and global competency skills, he said.

They need to be smart consumers and good problem-solvers who are creative, self-aware, open-minded and willing to take risks.

These "softer skills" — in addition to academic smarts — are essential to students succeeding after high school, Hollister said.

The Keystone Exams will force schools to devote more attention to traditional content knowledge at the expense of other skills, he said.

"What won't be taught is creativity, entrepreneurial thinking, interpersonal skills — that's huge — and being able to lead and manage teams of workers.

"None of those things are going to measured ... by these exams.

"It's not about being held accountable. I welcome accountability.

"But I want to be accountable and hold my kids accountable for what's really important."

At the recommendation of Hollister, Elanco school board earlier this month adopted a resolution formally opposing the tests.

bwallace@lnpnews.com