PARCC

PARCC
PARCC stands for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. The PARCC is a group made of up twenty-four states. These states are all working together towards one common goal. That goal is to create equal assessments for students in Kindergarten through twelfth grade so that they will be college and career ready. The assessments are in Math and English, and they are aligned with the Common Core Standards.
As stated, there are twenty-four states participating in this partnership. The states are broken into two categories: governing states and participating states. Governing states are the states that are piloting the assessments. These states include: Arizona, Arkansas, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island. The participating states are the states that are working together to design the assessments. These states include: Alabama, California, Colorado, Delaware, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. The PARCC assessments have recently undergone development and will be piloted this school year in some states. In the 2013-2014 school year, more of these assessments will be piloted. After data is collected adjustments will be made, and each state will administer these tests in the 2014-2015 school year.
These tests will be administered using the computer, and test responses will be graded by both humans and computers. The design of these assessments is varied. They consist of short answer, multiple choice, and open response items. Each cluster of grades (K-2, 3-8, and 9-12) will have different tasks and assessments. The Kindergarten through second grade cluster will consist of formative assessments where the teacher will track progress using various tools, for example, classroom observations. The third to eighth grade cluster will use the data accumulated from the tests to inform teachers, parents and students on the progress being made. The high school cluster will use the assessments to determine who is ready for college/career, and who may need more inventions put in place to help promote success.
When it comes to new techniques in the world education there are always positives and negatives associated with the alteration. The PARCC can be viewed in a positive manner for many reasons. Having a common set of assessments will be beneficial to students, teachers, parents and states. Students will be able to decide whether or not they are ready for college or for a career. There will also be no overlap. For example, if a student moves to a new state he/she will not be ahead of any curriculum, nor will he/she be behind that curriculum either. Parents will be able to have access to more information on the progress that their child is making in school, and they may be able to take a more active role in their child’s education. Teachers will also have more information about their students, which in turn could lead to more effective teaching. States would be able to assess their results with other states, knowing that the platform is equivalent. The PARCC also has its drawbacks. Students will be assessed approximately four times per school year. This means more tests and less time for instruction. With this high number of assessments in a school year teachers may feel added pressure to teach to the test. Finally the cost associated with implementing this new system of assessment may be high. Some school districts may encounter difficulty when budgets come in play.
In conclusion, the PARCC is going to have an impact on all of us in the very near future. It is important to stay current with on any new information that may come along.