This sounds pretty embarrassing. Nearly two-thirds of the Class of '09 failed Pennsylvania's new science test.
Students took the new test last spring, when they were 11th graders.
But before you get worried about your future being in the hands or minds of those not-so-science savvy students, there is some encouraging news:
Fourth graders are faring much better! More than 8 out of 10 scored at grade level.
Pennsylvania's top education official, Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak, said Tuesday only 36 percent of 11th-graders scored at grade level on the PSSA science test.
The science test was given in the spring to students in grades four, eight and 11.
Eighty-two percent of fourth-graders and 53 percent of eighth-graders scored at grade level on the science test.
Zahorchak says the 11th-grade scores show that Pennsylvania needs to apply more rigorous statewide graduation standards.
The PSSA has tested students in math, reading and writing since 2002.
