With just over a month until the end of the school year, students and teachers should be excited at the promise of summer break.

Instead, many are enduring stress-filled days and sleepless nights courtesy of the mandated Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests.Over a two-week period through late April, students in grades 3-8 are taking the exams encompassing math and English/language arts. Fourth- and eighth-grade students are also tested in science.The state has administered the tests annually since 1998.While not tied to state funding, a building’s test scores do weigh heavily on its School Performance Profile rating, which is used as a measuring stick when comparing schools. PSSA results also impact teacher evaluations.Over 50 percent of students taking the test must score “advanced” or “proficient” for the school to be considered successful.Exams are now aligned with Pennsylvania’s “core standards,” or the math and language skills students are expected to master in each grade.Pennsylvania high school juniors previously took PSSA tests until they were replaced by the end-of-course Keystone Exams.Preparing for pressuresSince the inception of the PSSA exams, the phrase “teach to the test” has become commonplace in educational conversation.Teachers admit it holds a grain of truth.“We do start preparing students right at the beginning of the year,” said Beth Cressley, fourth-grade teacher at Shull-David Elementary School in Lehighton. “In January, we really start to do more concentrated lessons in reading and math.”Fellow fourth-grade teacher Melanie Dillman said while teachers know they’re gearing the curriculum to the PSSA tests, they don’t specify it that way for students.“We don’t say we’re doing PSSA preparation right now,” Dillman explained. “You don’t want students to feel overwhelmed. We feel the pressure as teachers. The students, I hope they don’t feel it as much. Our team here tries to take that pressure away.”Both teachers said they felt the tests had become “too much of a competition.”Many districts hold pep rallies or other fun events around PSSA time to try and lighten the mood in school buildings.Lehighton offers students free breakfast, extra recess, exercise in the morning and treats throughout the day. It’s also a homework free week.Pleasant Valley School District employs a similar strategy.“Our teachers remind our students of how hard they have worked all year and that all that matters for the student on the assessment is that they do the best that they are able to do,” said Kenneth Newman, Pleasant Valley assistant to the superintendent.“Students are reminded to get plenty of sleep the night before the assessments and to eat a healthy breakfast in the morning, just as they should each school day.“We try to limit any other assessments and or homework during the schoolwide state assessment as well.”According to Jim Thorpe’s website, the district has updated both the English/language arts and mathematics curriculum, and has recently infused a new math series in the K - 8 grade levels in preparation for the PSSA assessments. Additionally, students have taken three 4 Sight assessments, which were aligned to the common core, throughout the school year to give them practice in test-taking skills so as “to help ease test anxiety.”But just how do teachers deal with the stress.“We don’t always deal with it,” Cressley said. “We dread it and don’t think the PSSA tests are a fair assessment to be honest.”Both Dillman and Cressley said they felt teachers were able to cover more information, and in a more organized manner before the PSSA tests began.“With the old achievement tests like the IOWA or TerraNova, the exams came, the students took them and you moved on,” Dillman said. “There wasn’t all this preparation. But now this is what the state requires.”Opt-outs on the riseA provision of Pennsylvania law allows parents to opt their children out of standardized testing for religious reasons. Districts can’t deny an opt-out request and families can’t be forced to prove how the testing violates their religious beliefs.According to the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, more than 625,000 public school students refused to take standardized exams last year.In Pennsylvania, students opted out of 7,890 individual tests including 3,353 for math, 3,405 for reading and 1,132 for science.Lehighton Curriculum Director Tim Tkach said around six students had opted out of this year’s PSSA tests.A large amount of opt-outs can hurt a district’s state rankings.A parent must review the tests at the school and then submit a letter to the superintendent, stating their desire to opt out. It must be done annually.“We (Pleasant Valley) had around 40 students opt out this year,” said Newman.Question exampleAccording to the PSSA website, the following is an example of an open ended test question:Roy is running for class president. He polls 50 students. 60 percent of them say they will vote for him.A. There are 350 students in Roy’s class. Based on his survey, how many students should he expect to vote for him? Show or explain all your work.B. Roy will sell fruit drinks to raise money for his campaign. A fruit drink cost 10 cents and he sells it for 50 cents. How many fruit drinks does Roy need to sell to earn $80? Show all your work. Explain why you did each step.