March 21, 2017

Dear Parent or Guardian,

The Farrell Area High School will once again be administering the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) from April 9th through April27th. The English/Language Arts and Math tests will be given during the week of April 9th and April 16th to all 7th and 8th graders.  The Science test will be given during the week of April 23rd to all 8th graders. We will be on an adjusted schedule on April 10th, 11th, 17th, and 24th. The schedules are enclosed.
A student’s score will fall into one of the following categories – Advanced, Proficient, Basic, or Below Basic. It is our sincerest wish for all of our students to do their very best and achieve Proficient or Advanced status. Accomplishing this will take a concerted effort not only of the school, but also of each household. Please assist us in our efforts by impressing upon your child the need to do their very best, leave nothing blank, to get plenty of sleep and to be on time for school each day.
As always, please refrain from signing your child out during school hours. We ask that you schedule all appointments for after school hours.  In addition, there is a strict No Cell Phone Policy during testing to maintain optimum security. If a student is caught with a cell phone, it will be taken from them and you will be required to retrieve it at the end of the school day. If a student is caught breeching security (i.e. use of a cell phone, cheating on the test) a possible expulsion could occur.  We especially need your compliance in this matter during the PSSA testing to us help maintain the optimum testing environment.
We are confident that our students will do well on this assessment! Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Matthew Fowler	Jordan Snyder	Nichole Columbus	
Principal	Guidance Counselor	Director of Curriculum/DAC	

PSSA ELA
Grades 7 & 8
April 10 & 11

8:00 – Students go to their assigned classroom. Any late students, report to the library for testing.
8:00 – 8:15 – Students permitted to eat breakfast

8:15 – 9:40 – Section 1 of ELA (April 10), Section 3 of ELA (April 11)

9:40 – 9:45 – Restroom Break – (April 11 – receive lunch and students dismissed at 10:00am) 9:45 – 10:15 – Lunch
10:15 – 11:55 – Section 2 of ELA (April 10)

11:55 – Dismissal of students who are finished with the sections for the day. Any student not finished will go to the Library to finish the section they are currently working on.
*On April 11th, students will complete Section 3 and then eat lunch. They will be dismissed at 10:00am.

Grades 9, 10, 11, & 12
April 10
12:00 – Students report directly to lunch 12:00 – 12:32 – Lunch
12:35 – 1:09 – Pd. 1

1:12 – 1:144 – Pd. 3

1:47 – 2:19 – Pd. 5

2:22 – 2:55 – Pd. 7

Students dismissed at 2:55

Grades 9, 10, 11, & 12
April 11

Report at 10:00am Follow 2 hour delay schedule

PSSA Math
Grades 7 & 8
April 17

8:00 – Students go to their assigned classroom. Any late students, report to the library for testing.
8:00 – 8:15 – Students permitted to eat breakfast 8:15 – 9:40 – Section 1 of Math
9:40 – 9:45 – Restroom Break

9:45 – 10:15 – Lunch

10:15 – 11:55 – Section 2 of Math

11:55 – Dismissal of students who are finished with the sections for the day. Any student not finished will go to the Library to finish the section they are currently working on.

Grades 9, 10, 11, & 12
April 17
12:00 – Students report directly to lunch 12:00 – 12:32 – Lunch
12:35 – 1:09 – Pd. 2

1:12 – 1:144 – Pd. 4

1:47 – 2:19 – Pd. 6

2:22 – 2:55 – Pd. 7

Students dismissed at 2:55

PSSA Science
Grade 8
April 24

8:00 – Students go to their assigned classroom. Any late students, report to the library for testing.
8:00 – 8:15 – Students permitted to eat breakfast 8:15 – 9:40 – Section 1 of Science
9:40 – 9:45 – Restroom Break

9:45 – 10:15 – Lunch

10:15 – 11:55 – Section 2 of Science

11:55 – Dismissal of students who are finished with the sections for the day. Any student not finished will go to the Library to finish the section they are currently working on.

Grades 7, 9, 10, 11, & 12
April 24
12:00 – Students report directly to lunch 12:00 – 12:32 – Lunch
12:35 – 1:09 – Pd. 3

1:12 – 1:144 – Pd. 4

1:47 – 2:19 – Pd. 5

2:22 – 2:55 – Pd. 6

Students dismissed at 2:55