Pennsylvania Student Test Scores Are In—and They Don’t Look Great

The 2025 results of Pennsylvania’s annual standardized tests are out, with mediocre results.

• The Pennsylvania System of Student Assessment (PSSA) tests students in grades 3 through 8 in reading (also referred to as English Language Arts, or ELA) and math. Students in grades 4 and 8 also test in science.
• High school students take the Keystone Exams in literature, biology, and algebra. Students typically take the tests in 9th or 10th grade, but students can retest every year through 11th grade to achieve proficiency.
• The Pennsylvania Department of Education calculates student scores and categorizes them into one of four groups: advanced, proficient, basic, or below basic.

Despite Pennsylvania spending $38.6 billion on education in 2024–25, test scores remain below pre-pandemic levels. Of note, Pennsylvania spent $12 billion on education in 2018–19 and yielded better results: In 2019, 60.9 percent of students were proficient in ELA, compared with just 48.5 percent in 2025.

PSSA scores for 2025 show:

• More than half (51.5 percent) of kids are reading below grade level.
• In math, nearly two out of three (58.3 percent) of students scored basic or below basic.
• Scores are lowest for Black students, with only 25.4 percent proficient in reading and only 15.7 percent proficient in math.

For high school students, the 2025 Keystone Exams show:

• About two out of three (62.1 percent) are proficient in literature.
• About half (49.4 percent) are proficient in biology.
• Less than half (44.3 percent) are proficient in algebra.

Throwing more money at a system that produces abysmal results gives you more abysmal results.

Instead, Pennsylvania tax dollars should follow all students—including special education—to the school of their choice, whether to public, private, charter, career and technical, or home education programs. 

This is the way to higher achievement and the best way to fulfill Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court ruling, which states that lawmakers should work to ensure “every student receives a meaningful opportunity to succeed.”