PARCC is not a Graduation Requirement

FYI - There has been some information sent out by the school district that states "While PARCC is not a measure used for graduation this year, it will be in the years going forward for students in the state of New Jersey. "

THIS IS FALSE - Successful passing of PARCC is one of a number of OPTIONS available to students going forward. They can also take the SAT or ACT, or ASVAB or Accuplacer Tests or a number of other tests:

You can read the full list of requirements here: 
http://www.state.nj.us/educat…/intervention/…/120214grad.pdf

I'll say one thing for the PARCC - it has upset parents, students and teachers.  The kids really don't seem to like it.  What a colossal waste of time and money.

Tjohn, those statements don't really support your conclusion.  Some parents, some students, and some teachers don't like it.  That doesn't make it a colossal waste of time or money.  I would like to see it adjusted, but i would really like to see the data and results before I condemn it.

Don't take this the wrong way, but should we really factor in whether students like to take a test or not.  My gut feeling is that the majority of kids are against ANY TESTING OF ANY SORT.  It's up to parents and administrators to figure out something we can all live with.  

tjohn said:

I'll say one thing for the PARCC - it has upset parents, students and teachers.  The kids really don't seem to like it.  What a colossal waste of time and money.

So, tell me then, what are we going to do with our fancy test results achieved at real cost to teaching?  It like an obese person spending money on a fancy scale to learn what they already know.  Is it going to address core problems in education such as socio-economic factors?

The PARCC is for politicians and statisticians so they can reduce a complicated problem to meaningless sound bites.

And the kids don't like the test because they are well aware of the fact  that it is a b.s. meaningless activity. I have never heard complaining about other tests in this way.

According to our administration, less time was spent on the PARCC than was previously spent on NJ ASK.  My kids did not complain about PARCC, although the middle schooler in accelerated math said the math was very hard.  I have no problem with the district using this as a baseline year since it's a new test.  I believe the first year the NJ ASK was used in our district the results were disregarded.  That happens when a new test is introduced. 

While a number of MOL posters have been very vocal in constantly complaining ad nauseam about this test, the percentage of students who opted out was small in our district.  Also, the teachers I talk to in the district tell me they don't "teach to the test."

The complaining is the fact that we have been told that this particular PARCC doesn't count which translates to our ears as a colossal waste of time for all and also, IMO, students are teachers are so tired of being tested. Test overload can shut the best teachers and students down. 

Would love it if someone could answer @tjohn's question. History states that if maximum results aren't achieved, our schools will be punished. We will also most likely get another standardized testing system to replace the failed one(s). 

So good luck trying to answer all of those tricky math, LA and science problems that our kids will see on their upcoming SAT's and ACT's. Our school system has never had the time to deeply get into those subjects, if at all. It's a horrible disservice to our students and to the parents and teachers who try to work harmoniously to make sure our kids are well prepared. 

From a parent's perspective, it is a huge waste of time.

I don't know how much it cost our district so I can't comment on the money.