N.J. releases figures on opt-out rates for new state tests
APRIL 15, 2015, 7:17 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2015, 7:43 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
TRENTON — The state education commissioner is urging students to sit down for the second round of new state tests, which starts in two weeks in many schools, even if they were among the thousands who opted out in the first round of testing.
Refusal rates for the tests ranged from 4 percent to 15 percent, depending on grade level, according to preliminary figures released Wednesday by the state Department of Education. The numbers were part of a snapshot of testing that Commissioner David Hespe provided Wednesday.
“We are encouraging school leaders to reach back out to parents and students and the school community and continue the message of how important participation is and how valuable those school reports are going to be,” Hespe said in an interview with The Record.
Hespe described the first round of tests known as PARCC as “successful,” despite refusals and protests from parents and teachers who argue that they take up too much time and resources and are too difficult. The commissioner noted that 98 percent of students took the test by computer – the highest rate of the 11 states that gave the tests – and that there were few, mostly minor problems with technology.
APRIL 2, 2015, 6:54 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2015, 6:54 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
The controversy over new state tests has reached Bergen County’s congested roadways, with new billboard ads on Routes 17 and 80.
The ads, which both appeared in Rochelle Park this week, feature the image of a child holding her hand out in a stop gesture. The sign says “Refuse PARCC tests. Bad for kids, bad for education.”
The state tests, known as PARCC, were required for the first time this year for grades 3 to 11 in math and English language arts. The tests measure students knowledge of academic standards and yield data that can be compared to other schools and state.
They are named for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, the group of states that developed them.
MARCH 4, 2015 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015, 1:21 AM
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — Mark Biedron, the president of the state Board of Education, will meet next week with village residents to address questions and concerns about Common Core standards and the computer-based PARCC tests.
Marlene Burton said she will open her Liberty Street home to accommodate Biedron’s visit to Ridgewood on Tuesday.
Burton said she’s moving furniture out of her house to make room for the 60-plus residents expected to attend the forum with Biedron. State education officials also confirmed the event.
Burton said Biedron agreed to the Ridgewood meeting following an email exchange on Common Core issues and the controversial PARCC tests.
The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. at 123 Liberty St.
PROFILE: STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION PRESIDENT BRINGS UNIQUE PEDIGREE TO POST
JOHN MOONEY | JANUARY 7, 2015
Mark Biedron cofounded a progressive private school that’s a far cry from the testing-centric culture of public schools
Mark Biedron, president of the state Board of Education.
Name: Mark Biedron
Title: President of the State Board of Education, 2014 to present. Appointed to the board in 2011 by Gov. Chris Christie.
Why he matters: Biedron has taken an activist role in leading the 13-member board that is responsible for reviewing and approving state administrative code and school regulations. He has traveled the state to query stakeholders and pressed the administration to explain its policies, from testing to school monitoring.
Where he comes from: The board president is a cofounder of the Willow School in Gladstone, a small independent school that focuses on ethics and language as the cornerstones of its curriculum. Founded with his former wife in 2002, the school’s progressive model is quite a bit different from the testing-focused culture of the public education system that Biedron is now charged with overseeing.
Not incongruous: Biedron maintains that for all the evident differences, he feels that public schools are moving toward a more holistic approach to education via the new Common Core State Standards and the advent of PARCC (Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) testing.
Quote: “In the old way and my way of learning, it was to put answers on paper. But your look at PARCC and Common Core, while not perfect, it is about how you got to the answers.”
Not happening fast enough: “I am the first person to say that testing doesn’t show everything about a student, but we have to take a lot of steps moving from Point A to Point B … This big behemoth called education moves slowly.”
How he started a school: Biedron said he was looking for a school for his children that would address both personal virtues and academic rigor, and finding none, he and his former wife were left with the decision to either move or start their own school. They decided on the latter.
As New Jersey schools began administering new online state exams on Monday, a few affluent communities reported large numbers of students opting out.
In Livingston, the suburb where Gov. Chris Christie grew up, school officials said about 1,100 students declined to take the tests, more than a quarter required to take them.
In Princeton, more than half of the high-school students who are scheduled to take them in coming days said they wouldn’t.
These districts appeared to be among the biggest pockets of resistance to the tests aligned with the Common Core, a set of expectations adopted by most states that spell out what skills children should master in each grade. (Brody/Wall Street Journal)
Ridgewood Parents ask Are we smarter than a 5th grader
Ridgewood parents take the PARCC test
FEBRUARY 27, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Local parents and residents gathered at the Ridgewood Public Library on Wednesday evening to put themselves in the shoes of students by taking the controversial PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) test.
Ridgewood Cares About Schools, an advocacy group that studies Common Core-driven changes in curriculum and the PARCC assessment itself, hosted the program, which allowed parents the opportunity to step into the role of a student in today’s educational climate.
Many believe that giving parents that experience will lead to better insight into what fears or concerns students may have. With that idea in mind, the adults fired up their laptops or tablets to prepare for testing.
The “pupils” had the ability to choose a test from any grade level in either math or English and language arts (ELA).
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