Lehighton Area School District will not be presenting its 2025-26 PSSA and Keystone exam results to the public this month, not because the district isn’t ready, but because the state has told superintendents across Pennsylvania to hold off.

Superintendent Jason Moser disclosed the situation Monday night during his report to the school board, saying the Pennsylvania Department of Education sent a message to superintendents statewide directing them to pause public release of this year’s test scores while a further review of the data is conducted.

“We received a message to hold off on public dissemination because there is further review happening for the actual scores,” Moser said. “I don’t know why they’re reviewing it. We don’t know what they’re looking at. We don’t know what they’re looking for.”

Moser said he had never encountered anything like it.

“I did earlier say that we would see those results in August, and they would be ready to go if the state would say they are final and ready to go,” he said. “What I don’t want to do is display something that is then inaccurate.”

He said he anticipates being able to present the results publicly in September once the state gives the all-clear.

Lehighton is not alone. The Pennsylvania Department of Education sent a letter to districts stating there would be a delay because a “review of the preliminary data is still underway.”

No reasons for the delay were given, and no information was shared about whether the scores might change.

This year marked the first time all PSSA and Keystone test administration was conducted entirely online statewide, with an exception only for students who require paper-and-pencil testing as an accommodation.

In a typical year, the state releases PSSA and Keystone data to districts early in the summer. District officials then review the data from June through July, share it with school leaders, and check for errors. Statewide comparison data usually follows, with public presentations at school board meetings by September or October.

PDE has not released any additional comment on the review.