On average, students who took the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exams across the state did better than Framingham students, who took the PARCC exams. In Colorado, while more than 95 percent of third-graders took the English and math tests, participation dropped at each grade level: just over 60 percent of high-school sophomores took those tests, while only 50 percent of high-school juniors took the English test (not all juniors were “required” to take the math test).
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On Thursday the Arkansas Department of Education released the results of students’ performance on the PARCC exam from the last school year. A student who scores at Level 5, the highest level, is considered to be exceeding expectations. But these results are similar to scores by students in other states.
The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is scheduled to vote November 17 on whether to stick with the in-house-developed MCAS, switch to the PARCC system or develop a new measurement for student achievement and college readiness. But because more white affluent students opted out, Interim Commissioner Asp urged caution when interpreting school and district-level scores because there is wide variation in scores, depending on who participated in the tests.
In English, 41.7 percent of fourth-graders met or exceeded expectations to lead all grade levels, while 10th-graders posted the lowest overall percentage of 37.4.
The computer-based tests are meant to measure whether students in grades three through high school are meeting the new standards.
If the board adopts Chester’s proposal, The new test would be given for the first time in the spring of 2017.
Citing publicly available reports on other states that opted to develop tests on their own rather than use PARCC, the MA Business Alliance for Education argues the cost and time for establishing a new state test could be substantial.
Under Chester’s recommendation, districts that administered the PARCC test in 2015 would do so again this school year.
Underwhelming scores on Colorado’s first PARCC exams surprised few and hardened longstanding positions among both supporters and opponents of the new tests, setting the stage for another round of debates over academic standards, testing and accountability.
MA education officials have been key members of the PARCC consortium of states that have collaborated in developing the assessment.
The Department of Education says this is honest reporting and a way to better students in the future.
Chester’s recommendation came on the same day that the nonprofit organization overseeing PARCC announced it a restructuring to allow states to use the full test, or to pick and choose pieces of the test or even individual test items.
Among Colorado students grades 3 through 11, only between 30 and 42 percent of test-takers meet or exceed expectations. “The fact that we’re building on the PARCC development, development that’s been paid for, gives us a leg up in the process and makes it more manageable financially”.
“There are areas where we weren’t quite sure what was on the assessment”, said Hope Allen, Director of Assessment for the Department of Education. The MA Teachers Association and other education groups are behind a bill asking state legislators to approve a high-stakes testing moratorium. Lawmakers and the governor listened to the critics in the spring and responded, enacting a new law that significantly reduces the time spent on mandatory testing, and mostly in high school.
State school districts vary greatly in size, wealth and technological infrastructure, so the commonwealth faces the challenge to ensure that the new state assessment is as achievable in Danvers as it is Lynn.
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Kerr, who said he favors tweaks to both, cautioned: “We shouldn’t throw all the work we’ve done during the last four or five years out and start all over”. “There’s no question about it. I think it would be an absolute mistake to backtrack to our current MCAS”.
