Paper Tests for PA Kids

We are Pennsylvania parents, caregivers, educators, and community members asking you to reconsider the 2026 requirement that all state assessments be taken digitally.

Until recently, Pennsylvania districts could choose paper or online testing. Now that all tests must be taken digitally, every third grader in the state takes the PSSA on a device, at an age when many children are still learning to write by hand. 

The mode of assessment affects how lessons are taught all year long. Reading passages, math practice, and writing assignments migrated to devices so children would be ready for the format they will face in the spring. Learning that once happened with a book, a pencil, and a teacher now happens increasingly through a 1:1 device.
 
The state has defended the switch as faster and more efficient. Yet nationwide, state education agencies that promised faster results from digital tests now routinely take longer to get scores to families than they did in the paper-and-pencil era.

We are not alone. New York moved its grades 3-8 state tests fully online this past spring. Within months, more than half of the New York City Council asked the state for a paper-and-pencil option, warning that "a computer-based testing mandate creates pressures for additional screen exposure." New York's Education Department is now reviewing that request. 

We ask that you eliminate this digital mandate and allow a paper option for PSSAs. A test should measure what children know, not how comfortable they are on a device. The unintended consequences of the mandate to go fully-digital have made testing days more stressful for kids and increased screen exposure throughout the year. 

Sincerely,
The PA Unplugged Coalition