Keystone Test Scoring and Performance Levels 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A student retakes a Keystone Exam multiple times. How is the final reported score typically determined?
- The average of all attempts is used
- Only the first attempt counts
- The highest score from any attempt is used (Correct answer)
- Only the most recent attempt counts
Correct answer: The highest score from any attempt is used
Pennsylvania reports the highest score a student earns across multiple Keystone Exam attempts.
Question 2: The Keystone Exam scaled score range is designed to do which of the following?
- Rank students nationally against all test-takers
- Represent performance relative to Pennsylvania academic standards (Correct answer)
- Predict future SAT or ACT scores
- Measure IQ and cognitive ability
Correct answer: Represent performance relative to Pennsylvania academic standards
Keystone Exam scaled scores are criterion-referenced, meaning they measure performance against Pennsylvania's academic standards rather than against other students.
Question 3: Which score typically marks the minimum threshold for the Proficient performance level on Keystone Exams?
- 1400
- 1500 (Correct answer)
- 1550
- 1600
Correct answer: 1500
A scaled score of 1500 is the generally recognized cut score for the Proficient performance level on Keystone Exams.
Question 4: A school district's Keystone Exam results show 60% of students scored Proficient or Advanced. This figure is best described as the school's:
- Growth percentile
- Proficiency rate (Correct answer)
- Scale score average
- Percentile rank
Correct answer: Proficiency rate
The percentage of students scoring Proficient or Advanced is called the proficiency rate and is a key accountability metric.
Question 5: What does a student's Keystone Exam score report typically include?
- National percentile rank and GPA prediction
- Scaled score, performance level, and subscores by reporting category (Correct answer)
- Only a pass/fail result with no additional detail
- A ranking compared to other students in the same classroom
Correct answer: Scaled score, performance level, and subscores by reporting category
Keystone score reports include the overall scaled score, performance level, and subscores broken down by reporting category to help identify strengths and weaknesses.
Question 6: In Pennsylvania's accountability system, which two performance levels are combined when reporting the percentage of students who 'met or exceeded' standards?
- Below Basic and Basic
- Basic and Proficient
- Proficient and Advanced (Correct answer)
- Basic and Advanced
Correct answer: Proficient and Advanced
Pennsylvania combines Proficient and Advanced scores to calculate the percentage of students who met or exceeded academic standards.
Question 7: Which of the following best explains why Keystone Exams use scaled scores rather than raw scores?
- Scaled scores are easier for students to understand
- Scaled scores allow comparison across different test versions and administrations (Correct answer)
- Raw scores are kept secret from students
- Scaled scores eliminate the need for performance level labels
Correct answer: Scaled scores allow comparison across different test versions and administrations
Scaling equates scores across different test forms so that results from different administrations can be fairly compared.
Keystone Test Scoring and Performance Levels 3
A student retakes a Keystone Exam multiple times.
How is the final reported score typically determined?