How did the PARCC go for your child today?

My 9th grader reported that the math PARCC she took was very hard. She's OK at math, so this makes me think that something is wrong with the difficulty of the test. She was certainly not traumatized by the experience, but administering tests that are too difficult doesn't serve any purpose.

tjohn said:

My 9th grader reported that the math PARCC she took was very hard. She's OK at math, so this makes me think that something is wrong with the difficulty of the test. She was certainly not traumatized by the experience, but administering tests that are too difficult doesn't serve any purpose.

In looking at all our tracks in Math, the progression doesn't seem well aligned with Common Core expectations to me. I'll be interested to see the results for this districts vs. other districts.

My son thought his 4th grade math assessment was easy. If the results show that elementary students are doing well, but middle-to-hs are dropping off, it could provide a piece of evidence for all those parents to point to when they go to the BOE to say that the Math levels are a mess, in all the tracks.

Maybe she did better on it than she thought, tjohn. Either way, I think I'd find a too-difficult test more useful -- for instance, to shed light on an observation like sprout's -- than a broadly affirmative one.

DaveSchmidt said:

Maybe she did better on it than she thought, tjohn. Either way, I think I'd find a too-difficult test more useful -- for instance, to shed light on an observation like sprout's -- than a broadly affirmative one.

If the test is properly calibrated to learning expectations and it is too hard, then we can look at course content. If the test is not properly calibrated and is too hard, then the test needs to be adjusted. Presumably, the results will help us understand this.

tjohn said:

DaveSchmidt said:

Maybe she did better on it than she thought, tjohn. Either way, I think I'd find a too-difficult test more useful -- for instance, to shed light on an observation like sprout's -- than a broadly affirmative one.

If the test is properly calibrated to learning expectations and it is too hard, then we can look at course content. If the test is not properly calibrated and is too hard, then the test needs to be adjusted. Presumably, the results will help us understand this.

Yep. Well said.

AliGrant said:

Yesterday my 9th grader got electronically kicked out of the test 4 times - causing him to have to start over and over. He found that no one seemed to know what to do about this.

Ugh, that is completely nuts--sounds very stressful--we're not at CHS yet so I wouldn't know specifically to whom you'd address this--email his guidance counselor, copy Principal Aaron, his math teacher, Susan Grierson...Good luck--if you find out anything interesting, I hope you'll report

I would contact Ms. Aaron directly. I've found her to be very responsive.

meandtheboys said:

I would contact Ms. Aaron directly. I've found her to be very responsive.

Last time I contacted her was in October. She told me she would follow up in a week. I'm still waiting

One of my Millburn HS 9th graders said the math was hard and she didn't get most of it, and neither did get peers, so maybe the HS math version is harder. She said she assumes they will learn more math between now and the retake in May.

AliGrant said:

meandtheboys said:

I would contact Ms. Aaron directly. I've found her to be very responsive.

Last time I contacted her was in October. She told me she would follow up in a week. I'm still waiting

Cut the woman some slack - she's had to deal with a faculty member's arrest, student protests regarding Ferguson, a lock-down, and more.

I hope you reach out again with more success.

callista said:

She said she assumes they will learn more math between now and the retake in May.

My understanding is that May is not a retake-- May is the multiple choice section. This month is the open-response/long answer/essay part that takes longer to score.

Harriet said:

AliGrant said:

meandtheboys said:

I would contact Ms. Aaron directly. I've found her to be very responsive.

Last time I contacted her was in October. She told me she would follow up in a week. I'm still waiting

Cut the woman some slack - she's had to deal with a faculty member's arrest, student protests regarding Ferguson, a lock-down, and more.

I hope you reach out again with more success.

I assure you - I have. I have not made a big deal out of it - this was the first mention in 5 months. If it was more important I would have followed up for the fourth time.

I believe make-ups for this month's round of PARCC testing are scheduled for next week. May is a whole new set of tests as will be November's.

Has it been determined our district will be testing in November? I hadn't heard that.

Today's Star-Ledger (March 22, 2015) has a front-page story on PARCC and its projected costs -- possibly -- of $108 Million over 4 years just for New Jersey!

The on-line links (four stories):
http://www.nj.com/education/2015/03/parcc_exams_following_the_money_behind_njs_costlie.html#incart_river

http://www.nj.com/education/2015/03/parcc_exams_how_pearson_landed_the_deal_to_produce.html#incart_river

http://www.nj.com/education/2015/03/parcc_exams_read_njs_contract_with_pearson_to_prod.html#incart_river

http://www.nj.com/education/2015/03/parcc_exam_in_nj_by_the_numbers.html#incart_river

I can't say one way or the other about the content of the test, but the software interface that Pearson has used to have teachers administer the test is truly abysmal. It's not like we don't have people in society who can program a clean and crisp web page so that anyone can easily navigate through the test administration.

And @jude, whatever you do, DO NOT click on the STOP button!

Jude said:

I can't say one way or the other about the content of the test, but the software interface that Pearson has used to have teachers administer the test is truly abysmal. It's not like we don't have people in society who can program a clean and crisp web page so that anyone can easily navigate through the test administration.

Yeah, but we can't hire those competent people, just like the government couldn't hire those people for the Obamacare website!! Shti always seems to float to the top with the stuff the taxpayers pay for. :-|

As @SuzanneNg stated, DO NOT click on the STOP button. Pearson put a STOP button on the administrator's page but under no circumstances was anyone supposed to hit the STOP button. If it were hit, then ONLY someone in Trenton could get the test going again. So why is it on the page when it cannot be pushed...no matter what!

Just one of many stupidities in the test on the admin side.

Two kids were in one of the English language tests and a question instructed kids to drag answers from a list into a box (instead of simply clicking on them.) Those two kids couldn't drag and drop -- test wouldn't let them. Only solution was to have kids save the work, log off, shut down, change computers, log in and re-start. Some connection between a Chrome and the PARCC test server was amiss. Same two kids had to write an essay in a box. The box wasn't there. Same solution.

My eldest son (10th grade) said the test was so easy he and his friends were writing farcical essays out of indignation at the waste of time and resources involved. The kids realize their curriculum is now bastardized by test-prep. We're all-but destroying our schools statewide because we are too cowardly to address the corruption in a few urban districts. We pay very high taxes here supposedly in exchange for great schools.

FFB said:

We pay very high taxes here supposedly in exchange for great schools.

Godwin's Law, MSO variant has been activated.

tjohn said:

FFB said:

We pay very high taxes here supposedly in exchange for great schools.

Godwin's Law, MSO variant has been activated.

I don't think I've seen a new member hit the trifecta (dog bite, race-bait, high-taxes) after only one week of membership before.

Jude said:

Today's Star-Ledger (March 22, 2015) has a front-page story on PARCC and its projected costs -- possibly -- of $108 Million over 4 years just for New Jersey!

I just get so discouraged and overwhelmed by things like this that I don't know what to do...

tjohn said:

FFB said:

We pay very high taxes here supposedly in exchange for great schools.

Godwin's Law, MSO variant has been activated.

"Godwin's Law" is "we pay high taxes so the Democrats can steal them", not "to pay teachers."

As_If said:

Jude said:

Today's Star-Ledger (March 22, 2015) has a front-page story on PARCC and its projected costs -- possibly -- of $108 Million over 4 years just for New Jersey!

I just get so discouraged and overwhelmed by things like this that I don't know what to do...

I don't know what to tell you. It does the same to me. We hire great teachers then we tell them to spend all of their time teaching to a bogus test else they won't get paid. It's more of the debasing of public education by those of wealth. Public schools are our most important entitlement and the feudal wealth despises them for this.

Join the millions across the nation who are #pissedatpearson

http://huff.to/1GMK7kl

Excellent editorial in the Village Green

http://villagegreennj.com/schools-kids/op-ed-tests-anxiety-parcc/

ice said:

Excellent editorial in the Village Green

http://villagegreennj.com/schools-kids/op-ed-tests-anxiety-parcc/

I've developed reservations about the implementation of the PARCC, but apart from this, that's about the most incisive piece on this subject that I've seen to date.

Thanks, Ice.

I'm not sure if this has been posted already as I don't feel like reading all four pages, but apparently 50,000 across the state "refused" to take the test. South Orange/Maplewood was pretty low, but West Orange was 1,000 and Livingston was 1,400.

http://njkidsandfamilies.org/parcc-refusals-at-50k-and-growing/

http://www.njea.org/njea-media/pdf/Refusals_Per_County.pdf

And at Montclair 42.6% of the students opted out:
http://patch.com/new-jersey/montclair/montclair-school-district-releases-final-parcc-refusal-totals-0#.VSPqqfhpWxk.facebook
http://www.montclair.k12.nj.us/WebPageFiles/2375/Final%20Refusal%20PARCC%202014-2015%20COUNTS_Internal%20040515.pdf

That's 1920 kids.

Meanwhile, at our so-called "progressive" SOMSD, it was less than 200. But who really knows since the district is refusing to release the data.

Why is it progressive to opt out? Couldn't it be said that trying something to see how it works, even if it is a little out of the comfort zone, is progressive?