PSSA scores across the state are significantly lower than last year as the state transitions to common core standards.

Students who took the PSSA in the spring - anyone in grades three through eight - took a brand-new test, which explains the low scores.The scores are so much lower than last year that the state decided not to use them as part of districts' "School Performance Profiles" - scorecards that play a role in teacher evaluations.The 2015 test was changed significantly from previous years to emphasize new common core standards that are being put in place nationwide. But the common core hasn't fully made its way into classrooms around the state yet, which explains why so many students scored lower than last year, according to Matthew Stem, deputy secretary of the office of elementary and secondary education."It's not that scores have dropped, it's that the new assessment gives us a snapshot in time of where our students are relative to these new standards," Stem said on a conference call with reporters Tuesday.That snapshot is not a pretty one.In reading and math, the number of students scoring proficient and advanced dropped precipitously from 2014.Last year, nearly three-quarters of the students who took the test scored proficient in math.This year, it was less than one-third.In reading, the dropoff was not quite as severe, but still significant. Forty percent of students scored proficient - down from 72 percent in 2014.The biggest dropoff came in eighth-grade math, where the percentage of students who scored proficient or better dropped from 72 percent to 28 percent.Stern said the low scores will be useful as a benchmark to gauge how well districts phase in the new common core standards.In math, the concepts are more in-depth.For the reading test, there is more emphasis on nonfiction."They reflect a higher level of rigor than the previous standards, and focus on college and career readiness," Stem said.By changing the test, the department has sent the message to every district in the commonwealth that they must incorporate those concepts into their curriculum.There is no indication that the Department of Education will keep PSSA scores out of the School Performance Profile next year. In fact, Stem said he anticipates it will be included.Some districts have already started implementing curricula that emphasize the common core concepts. And the Department of Education has agreed to provide frameworks for new curricula, as well as "classroom diagnostic assessments" at no charge to the districts, where they can assess how well a school is addressing the concepts on the PSSA."There are a lot of resources we are providing to educators and districts to help their students be successful," he said.