Leann Stitzel, director of curriculum at Northwestern Lehigh School District, explained the Keystone Exams during the Dec. 12 board meeting.

The exams are to be based on Common Core standards, which will be explained in more detail in January.

Stitzel said Keystone Exams are one piece of a puzzle the Pennsylvania Department of Education has asked schools to put together.

"There is a lot we don't know yet," Stitzel said.

Planning on the state level began in 2009. End-of-course exams are included. Any of the exams may be retaken but proficiency is required for graduation beginning with the class of 2017.

The exams will be offered in the winter, spring and summer.

For students having difficulty, summer school may be required.

Presently, summer school is paid by the student, but it is not known how the supplemental instruction in summer school will be handled.

If a student is receiving supplemental instruction, a certified teacher must be present at all times.

No work can be done at home, which may lead to great expense.

The pass-fail will be the annual yearly progress report, which will be covered by the new exams.

Asked by a board member what is required to pass, he was told advanced or proficient are passing grades.

The first tests will be in biology, math and language arts.

What most surprised board members is that a test taken in fifth, ninth or 10th grade, in which the student is proficient, will not have to be retaken for the AYP, but that does not apply to the graduation requirement.

Board member Darryl Schafer asked if a class were placed on watch or warning, how would it be removed.

Stitzel said a school would be able to petition the state for new targets.

Superintendent Mary Anne Wright said the bridge between the PSSAs and Keystones is not yet known.

Third-, fourth- and fifth-grade writing field tests will be done in Common Core. For schools using the Keystone tests before they were required, only 39 percent of math students were found proficient; 50 percent in literature; and 35 percent in biology.

Wright said the dismal results were because teaching is geared toward Common Core and the tests are not.

Common Core will grow with the classes, beginning in the lower grades, Wright said.

Stitzel was asked what would happen if a student does not become proficient after taking the test twice.

She replied supplemental instruction would be needed.

This would need the help of students and their parents, Wright said.

High School Principal Aileen Yadush said students will have to meet the school requirements and the federal ones.

Board member LeRoy Sorensen, asked if there were something similar to E-Metric, which shows PSSA scores for the Keystones.

He was told it will be used in the Keystones also.