• Act 158 High School Graduation Requirements

    Signed into law in 2015 by President Obama, the Every Student Succeeds Act (Essa) was established to ensure that all students in the United States are held to high academic standards designed around college and career readiness.  In accordance with the law, the Keystone Exams are administered to all students upon successful completion of Algebra 1, Biology, and English 10 courses.  To demonstrate postsecondary readiness, all students were anticipated to score proficient or advanced in each of the three Keystone Exams.   In recognition that standardized testing is not a true indicator of students' future success, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) created Act 158 of 2018, which is a system that provides alternative pathways to graduation.  Beginning with the class of 2023, the PA Department of Education affords students the option to demonstrate postsecondary preparedness through one of four pathways that more fully illustrate college, career, and community readiness.  In order to graduate from high school, all students must meet one of the four pathways.  The four pathways can be found inside the Pa Pathways to Graduation document that outlines the criteria surrounding each pathway.  For additional support, the state of Pennsylvania has released the Pa Graduation Trail document that acts as a decision-making tool for schools and families.