Tag: PARCC

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PARCC Testing for the test : Ridgewood Schools Results

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In 2008, the High School Redesign Taskforce stated: “…the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) does not measure college or work readiness…Further, New Jersey colleges and universities do not use scores from the HSPA for admissions or placement, because the test does not reflect postsecondary placement requirements.”

Recommendation: A System of Aligned Assessments “Replace HSPA with a series of end of course assessments in math… and a proficiency exam in language arts literacy that are aligned with the expectations of higher education and the workplace.” (HSRSC – 2008) Current tests should be “replaced with a system of end-of-course assessments.” (CCRT – 2012)

NEW JERSEY’S STATEWIDE ASSESSMENT PROGRAM

¡ In 2015, New Jersey adopted the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) to replace HSPA and previous assessments in elementary and middle schools in language arts and mathematics.

¡ 773,710 NJ Students took PARCC English Language Arts and Literacy Assessments (ELA/L) in Grades 3–11.

¡ 745,606 NJ Students took PARCC Mathematics Assessments in grades 3 – 8 and End of Course Assessments in Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II.

WHAT IS PARCC MEASURING?

A continuum of college readiness at each grade level, based on expectations for skill and knowledge acquisition ideal for annual progress toward graduating high school, ready to do college level work.

¡ Expectations are aligned to the grade-level, academic standards to which we write our curriculum and teach our students – the CCSS

¡ Other tests that measure a continuum of college readiness include: ADP, NAEP, ACT, SAT among others

PARCC Testing Presentation is now Online
Click here to view the PARCC testing presentation given at the December 7 Board meeting by Cheryl Best, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment.

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Gov. Chris Christie on Monday signed legislation that bans the state from implementing financial sanctions against schools for low PARCC test participation rates

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Christie won’t withhold funding over PARCC opt-outs

A new state law prohibits New Jersey from punishing schools financially for having a high percentage of students refuse to take state exams. Adam Clark, NJ.comRead more

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PARCC test results: Most N.J. students did not meet grade-level expectations

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OCTOBER 20, 2015, 3:47 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2015, 9:46 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

WEST TRENTON – Most New Jersey students failed to meet grade-level expectations in math and English language arts on new state tests, according to results released Tuesday, seven months after tests were given amid controversy and a test boycott.

But officials urged caution in looking at scores because the tests, they said, are based on new and tougher standards compared to those of previous years. While the scores cannot be used to measure growth, officials said, they could provide a wake-up call for schools to see where instruction is failing and where students need the most help.

“This is from spring of 2015,” said Education Commissioner David Hespe. “We need to consider that is not a lot of time. So our expectation is not that we’re going to have every child on track for career and college. That is not going to happen in a short amount of time. Our goal is to remain committed to a continuum of improvement over time.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/parcc-test-results-most-n-j-students-did-not-meet-grade-level-expectations-1.1436868

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N.J. freezes impact of student testing on teachers; exams still count as 10 percent of evaluations

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AUGUST 5, 2015, 11:45 PM    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015, 11:49 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

New Jersey won’t increase the weight of state tests on teacher evaluations in the coming school year — to the relief of educators whose reviews are based in part on students’ scores.

Student performance on state tests will count for 10 percent of a teacher’s job review in the coming school year, the same as in the past year, state officials announced Wednesday.

The state could have made test scores account for as much as 20 percent of a teacher’s evaluation under a revised policy adopted last year. But state officials backed down amid an outcry from teachers against use of standardized state tests in their reviews.

“We don’t think this is a proper use |of test score data, but it is a step in |the right direction that they’re freezing it rather than raising it,” said Steve Baker, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union.

David Hespe, the state education commissioner, said the decision was made because data from the new tests haven’t been received and reviewed yet and because the state was still transitioning from its old tests.

“This is the right move to keep teacher evaluations strong and successful into the future,” Hespe said at a state Board of Education meeting.

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-freezes-impact-of-student-testing-on-teachers-exams-still-count-as-10-percent-of-evaluations-1.1386884

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Readers say Governor goes easy on PARCC because Pearson Publishing, is headquartered in New Jersey

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Not so fast…Trenton’s Fred Flintstone is still enamored with PARCC testing. Does this have to do with the fact that the owner/operator of PARCC, Pearson Publishing, is headquartered in New Jersey?

“The Governor did, however, [direct] DOE Commissioner Hespe to assemble a group of parents, teachers and educators to reevaluate the situation to come up with new state-centric standards, and he renewed his support for the controversial Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams. “We must continue to review and improve that test based on results, not fear or speculation,” Christie declared. “I will not permit New Jersey to risk losing vital federal education funds because some would prefer to let the perfect get in the way of the good.””

PARCC is neither perfect nor nor good. It is perfectly worthless and needs to be jettisoned along with Common Core. The two stem from the same rotten ideology.

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Christie abandons Common Core: “it’s simply not working”

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Posted by admin On May 28, 2015 1 Comment

By The Staff | The Save Jersey Blog

No more than mere weeks away from an anticipated presidential campaign launch, Governor Chris Christie’s long retreat from Common Core just reached the next level Thursday afternoon during remarks on New Jersey academic standards at the Burlington County College’s Geraldine Clinton Little Theatre in Pemberton.

“It’s now been five years since Common Core was adopted,” the Governor declared in prepared remarks. “And the truth is that it’s simply not working.  It has brought only confusion and frustration to our parents.  And has brought distance between our teachers and the communities where they work. Instead of solving problems in our classrooms, it is creating new ones. And when we aren’t getting the job done for our children, we need to do something different.”

https://savejersey.com/2015/05/christie-abandons-common-core-its-simply-not-working/

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NJ students will spend less time taking controversial state tests

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MAY 21, 2015, 11:46 AM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2015, 7:26 PM

BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Students will spend less time taking standardized tests next year in New Jersey and 10 other states, a response to complaints from teachers, parents and school officials that the exams took up too much instruction time and overwhelmed local schools.

The governing board of the tests, called PARCC, voted to cut down total testing time by about 90 minutes, the officials said in a statement released Thursday.

“The changes will improve and simplify test administration for schools, teachers and students, without diminishing the goal of the assessment,” the statement said.

Locally, testing critics said that, while they were glad state officials were responding to their concerns, the changes do not go far enough. Too much time still will be spent preparing for the tests, they said, because of the high stakes attached to them. The results are used to evaluate the performance of teachers, administrators and schools and will become a graduation requirement in 2019

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-students-will-spend-less-time-taking-controversial-state-tests-1.1340082

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There’s good reason to opt out of PARCC

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MAY 8, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

There’s good reason to opt out

To the editor:

On April 2, all district parents received from our Superintendent of Schools a status update on the first round of Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) testing.

The letter tallies the students whose parents refused the PARCC tests (opting out is not technically an option): 1,135 out of a total of 4,111 students, or nearly 28 percent. The refusal rate for grades 3-8 was over 11 percent.

In line with NJ Education Commissioner David Hespe’s recent threats, the letter states that Ridgewood Public Schools may suffer ill effects as a result, including losing federal grant money and losing our status as a high-performing school district.

The letter does not mention that no district has ever lost federal grant money as a result of low participation, nor does it question why a brand-new assessment should carry such weight in terms of evaluating our district’s schools.

I, along with no doubt all Ridgewood residents who are shouldering 95 percent of the $101 million school budget via property taxes, wish to maintain Ridgewood’s status as a high-performing district. I do not think that the way to do this is to sit by as corporate-led reform, the stated goal of which was to create a “national uniform market” for standardized tests and prep materials, attempts to convert our public schools into profitable test factories without corresponding benefit to students.

We’ve always had standardized tests. However, the low-stakes, sporadic CAT and Terra Nova tests took up a fraction of instruction time as compared to the high stakes, annual standardized testing that began in 2001 with NJ ASK under NCLB.

PARCC and PARCC test prep take excessive standardized testing to a new level.

Further, like other standardized test results, PARCC scores will not tell teachers what they don’t already know. The delay in receiving them exacerbates this: Results from the March testing won’t be out until October 2015 at the earliest. Relying on such data for student placement or special needs or anything else seems more than a bit delayed.

The bottom line is, as Dr. Fishbein stated in an op-ed piece last summer, ever-increasing state mandates including PARCC are objectionable because they displace instruction time and shunt teachers into offices and behind desks to fill out reports and pore over data.

Many parents agree and are acting, in a lawful and respectful way, to try to roll back the intrusion of corporate “reformers” and politicians under their influence in the classroom.

I understand that Commissioner Hespe has directed administrators to encourage participation in PARCC. The Department will view such attempts as a “mitigating factor” in how districts with high non-participation rates are evaluated, as Commissioner Hespe stated at an April 29 hearing in Trenton.

At the same hearing, the Commissioner claimed not to understand why parents are refusing permission. Rather than merely carrying out the Commissioner’s directives, our administration would serve us well by helping to explain that to him and the Department publicly.

Anne Burton Walsh

Ridgewood

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-there-s-good-reason-to-opt-out-of-parcc-1.1329244

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N.J. releases figures on opt-out rates for new state tests

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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.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-releases-figures-on-opt-out-rates-for-new-state-tests-1.1309668

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Privacy concerns are legitimate

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April 10, 2015    Last updated: Friday, April 10, 2015, 12:31 AM
The Ridgewood News

To the Editor:

In a March 27, 2015 column in this paper, our Superintendent of Schools Dan Fishbein argued in support of “good digital citizenship,” a reprint of which all district parents received via email subsequently. In it, Dr. Fishbein told an amusing, cautionary tale about divulging one’s identity to vendors and its far-reaching consequences, a vexing aspect of modern life. He then related this experience to students posting about PARCC testing via social media.

I object to Dr. Fishbein’s column and email because I am worried that they minimize legitimate concerns about what appears to be an effort by private agents and public officials to squelch dissent to the new PARCC standardized tests.

It came to light the other week that Pearson, the testing giant, and the NJ Department of Education contracted with a security agent, Caveon, in order to trawl social media sites for mention of PARCC by students. This is ostensibly to protect PARCC test questions from breach and promote fairness, as well as to protect intellectual property. The identity of any student committing a so-called security breach is then reported to the NJ DOE, which has happened to at least one student in Watchung (as reported by its alarmed superintendent).

What used to be one of the few ways to wring value from a standardized test, namely discussing test questions and answers with peers and mentors after a test, is now illicit in this era of Big Standardized Testing.

Further, it is not just “security breaches” that are being swept up by corporate security agents working in tandem with state government. In practice, as Caveon has explained, it is casting an even wider net that may include mere mention of PARCC.

Yes, posting on social media is public and there should be no expectation of privacy. However, so is talking at a playground or on the phone in a pizza parlor. Are we just as comfortable with Pearson agents hiding at the outskirts of school grounds with microphones and cameras, or conducting surveillance through children’s smartphones?

Perhaps children should not be allowed to have social media accounts because they lack maturity and judgment about what to post and not post, an issue that’s come up in many contexts. I agree that we have to guide children in making good judgments in their digital lives.

However, more important than good digital citizens in my view is the raising of courageous citizens who are aware of their right to discuss, dissent, even to disparage ideas, institutions, their leaders. That is what makes American democracy unique and valuable.

If a child tweets that “some PARCC questions were dumb” or “PARCC stinks” or “I wish I could find out before next year how I did on the PARCC so I could learn something,” there should be no risk that that child’s identity will be reported to the state government or that he will incur a permanent black mark on his record.

That is the greater concern in my opinion.

Anne Burton Walsh

Ridgewood

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-privacy-concerns-are-legitimate-1.1306342

 

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PARCC test opponents launch billboards in Bergen County

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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.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/parcc-test-opponents-launch-billboards-in-bergen-county-1.1301833

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Addressing PARCC and Common Core

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Addressing PARCC and Common Core

APRIL 3, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Addressing PARCC and Common Core

To the editor:

Over the course of the last eight months, there have been some letters to the editor demonizing the Common Core State Standards and PARCC tests. One such letter appeared last week.

Unfortunately, it contained some misinformation, and also expressed some opinions which, in our view, are unfounded. So let’s be clear about the facts.

The implementation of Common Core State Standards and PARCC testing resulted in little if any incremental spending in the district. Curriculum upgrades and revisions take place routinely and systematically over a five-year cycle. Since New Jersey adopted the Common Core State Standards in 2010, alignment to the Common Core was taken, in stride, as part of that cycle.

No technology upgrades were necessary to implement the PARCC assessment. Technology improvements were already imbedded in the district’s technology plan, and were not undertaken to support PARCC.

Technology’s purpose in education is to take advantage of the best tools and software designed to augment instruction. The introduction of Chromebooks and Google-docs software has been enthusiastically welcomed by both teachers and students. They are recognized for their value in providing for collaborative study and student-teacher interaction and many other innovations.

The Board of Education, administrators, and teachers have a solemn duty to provide our students with the best opportunity to succeed in college and careers. College students constantly use their computers in their residences, the student union, and almost everywhere else. This applies to students of the liberal arts as well as the sciences.

Computer use is not incompatible to fostering a love of learning and development of critical thinking skills. It is a tool that enhances those qualities. We cannot be satisfied with preparing our students to live in some “technology-lite” society that no longer exists. If we want our students to compete globally, we need to prepare them for that reality.

Our media centers have not been converted to “test prep centers.” We have not diminished our excellent social studies, science or arts curriculum to focus on these assessments. Our students are not “watching lots of movies” because “their teachers are too busy to teach as much as they used to.” Movies are used for educational purposes and yes, at times, for rewards, but never because teachers are too busy to teach.

We have not devoted “endless hours” practicing for the PARCC tests. We did expose students to the assessment experience they were going to encounter just as some parents choose to expose their children to SAT, AP and ACT assessment.

Regarding “corporate greed,” we have textbooks and equipment with company logos throughout our schools. We use competitive pricing for all our purchases. Is a private sector company making a profit by serving the district somehow unethical? In our free enterprise system, which we teach to our students, opportunity to profit stimulates entrepreneurship, innovation, product development and efficiency. Success breeds job creation, prosperity and economic growth. This is a virtuous circle, not a “stench.”

These views are ours individually, not on behalf of the Board of Education.

Sheila Brogan and Vincent Loncto

Ridgewood

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-addressing-parcc-and-common-core-1.1302076

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PARCC tests are not good for children

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PARCC tests are not good for children

MARCH 27, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015, 8:27 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Print

New tests are not good for children

To the editor:

The Common Core State Standards and PARCC testing are expensive: lots of new technology, increased bandwidth, lots more technical support personnel, more administrators – and we the taxpayers are footing the bill.

That would be fine if all this were good for our children, but it’s not. Our children are learning less: they’re reading less classic literature because they’re reading more informational texts; they’re doing less math because they’re writing essays about math; they’re doing way less social studies and science because they’re spending endless hours practicing for the PARCC.

Younger children are on keyboards practicing their typing skills instead of using paper and pencil which research shows leads to enhanced cognitive development.

They’re also watching lots of movies. Presumably their teachers are too busy to teach as much as they used to.

During the testing season, libraries resemble test prep centers more than they do traditional libraries. And now the giant publishing firm Pearson, the makers of the test, is employing a company in Utah, Caveon, to spy on children’s social media sites to see what the kids are saying about the PARCC test they’ve just taken.

Teachers are stressed, passing the stress onto the children. Teachers are afraid to say what they really think about all this for fear of losing their jobs. The teaching profession has been degraded and will continue to be degraded as long as this regimen prevails.

Turmoil is the word I most frequently hear. Is this the tradition of excellence in education that we brag about here in Ridgewood?

Interestingly, the people who most vociferously support the Common Core State Standards and PARCC testing do not send their kids to schools that use either the Common Core State Standards or PARCC testing, yet they want the rest of us to do so. How does that make any sense in a democracy? In an oligarchy, yes, a system of government in which the monied elite dictate to the masses what to do for the financial benefit of the monied elite.

The children of Silicon Valley executives go to schools which not only do not use the Common Core State Standards or PARCC testing, but also use NO technology – that’s right – NONE – and why? Their tech-free teaching methods are designed to foster a lifelong love of learning and to teach students how to concentrate deeply and master human interaction, critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Isn’t that what we are trying to do? How did we get it so wrong?

Increasingly, we parents and grandparents in Ridgewood want the Board of Education to figure a way out of this mess. It’s unsustainable. In the short-term we want the Board of Education to provide our children a “technology-lite” alternative to the heavy duty technology path it has charted.

We have done all this for all the wrong reasons. It is time to think about the children. Let’s eradicate the stench of corporate greed from our fine Ridgewood schools.

Marlene Burton
Ridgewood

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-new-tests-are-not-good-for-children-1.1297340

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Readers challenge idea of a private corporation abridging students first amendment rights

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Readers challenge idea of a private corporation abridging students first amendment rights  

“The Ridgewood Public Schools guards our data and only shares with state and federal officials the information that is required by law. We make every effort to teach our students about good digital citizenship and with the beginning next school year, we will teach it more formally through a Digital Citizenship Curriculum, from kindergarten through Grade 12.”DANIEL FISHBEIN

Students in New Jersey were told repeatedly that they had no choice about taking a test(PARCC) which then resulted in their private information being given to Pearson and also restricted their first amendment rights.

I love how all the NJ DOE apologists are glossing right over the fact that our schools were being asked by a private corporation to discipline a student. What’s next? If a kid tweets that the school lunch is disgusting, will the school punish him on behalf of Aramark??
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PARCC Refuseniks : Mounting refusals to take state tests could hurt N.J.’s federal aid

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PARCC  Refuseniks :  Mounting refusals to take state tests could hurt N.J.’s federal aid

MARCH 27, 2015, 10:53 PM    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015, 10:56 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

A tally kept by the state’s largest teachers union shows that the number of students refusing to take new state tests may top 46,000 — meaning too few students are taking the exam to meet a federal mandate, which officials say could put education funding to the state in jeopardy.

Refusals grew from week to week as tests were conducted in March, numbering hundreds in some North Jersey school districts, including 1,100 in Ridgewood alone, or one-fourth of all eligible students.

The union, one of the leading opponents of the tests, has collected numbers from teachers, media reports and parents. Although the numbers are unconfirmed, the union’s tallies from local districts are similar to figures The Record has received by talking to a limited number of school superintendents.

Steve Wollmer, spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, said that the 46,000 figure represents 5 percent of all students in the state. “We know at least that many opted out and that [list] doesn’t even include every district in the state,” he said.

State education officials declined on Friday to say how many have refused the test known as PARCC, or whether the participation rate was below 95 percent. A spokesman said results won’t be known until after testing ends on Thursday.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/mounting-refusals-to-take-state-tests-could-hurt-n-j-s-federal-aid-1.1297847