PARCC tests off to smooth start, despite some refusals

Matt Bower
Posted 3/17/15

Apart from some minor glitches, school officials said the first day of Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) testing went smoothly and was a successful start. …

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PARCC tests off to smooth start, despite some refusals

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Apart from some minor glitches, school officials said the first day of Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) testing went smoothly and was a successful start.

Testing began yesterday and will run through April 13. There are three sessions for the English language arts portion and two sessions for the math portion, so every grade level will receive five days of testing. Students in grades 3 through 10 will take the test, which is administered electronically and is taken on a Google Chromebook. This is the first year the PARCC test is being implemented, which replaces the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) test for English and math.

“The testing went very smoothly today,” said Lynn Dambruch, director of elementary education. “We had a few issues with some of the older Chromebooks, but we were able to get them up and running and we have enough on hand that it’s not a problem if we need more.”

Superintendent Richard D’Agostino said things also went smoothly at the secondary level.

“Everything worked and booted up over the weekend and was fine on Friday. There were one or two glitches here or there, but you expect that with technology,” he said. “There were no major problems. Everything went very smoothly like we thought. It was a successful day.”

Although there weren’t any major technology issues, participation level has been a concern, as a number of parents have decided to refuse to allow their children to take the PARCC test.

While that decision will not affect the student or their grade, there was a concern that the school could be negatively affected by not achieving the required 95 percent participation rating.

“Students who don’t take the test will be factored in to the participation rate [for the school],” D’Agostino said during a phone interview Friday. “If a school is below 95 percent participation, the classification could change, as far as being marked for warning status, or other consequences.”

Although schools may be below the 95 percent participation rating, Dambruch said classification status would not be affected for 2015.

Dambruch said there are 2,725 students in grades 3 through 6 eligible to take the test and she has received 66 parent refusals, leaving elementary schools at a 97.6 percent participation rate.

“We are concerned about three elementary schools,” she said. “The principals are still working with parents; it’s on our radar.”

While Dambruch would not reveal which schools are below 95 percent, she said all three are very close.

“One school is at 94.2 percent, one is at 94.9 percent and the lowest is at 92.4 percent,” she said. “In most cases, one or two students would make the difference.”

At the secondary level, D’Agostino said Pilgrim is at 98.1 percent, with nine refusals, Toll Gate is at 99.6 percent, with two refusals, and all three junior highs are at 99.6 percent combined.

“There are very few refusals at the secondary level,” he said.

As of Friday, D’Agostino said he had received 50 parent refusals, which accounted for less than 1 percent of the 6,500 students that are eligible to take the test.

D’Agostino said Education Commissioner Deborah Gist and the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) made it clear there is no formal procedure or process to opt out of taking the PARCC test.

“Parents are allowing their children to refuse to participate,” he said.

For those parents that refuse to let their children take the test, a letter was sent out explaining how the tests will be used and what students who aren’t taking the test would be doing during that time. The letter also asked parents to reconsider their decision and to indicate whether or not they were still refusing to have their child participate by last March 13.

D’Agostino said school principals have arranged meetings with parents who refuse to have their child take the test to talk about their concerns in hopes of getting them to reconsider.

“The tests will serve as a baseline for future exams, as we will be able to compare this year’s test with next year’s test and view the progress that was made,” D’Agostino said. “The tests are also used for instructional planning and to tighten up the curriculum.”

D’Agostino said students who aren’t taking the test would be given an alternate assignment to complete, such as a reading or math assignment comparable to what the class is studying.

In the event that a parent hasn’t previously requested to have their child refuse to participate and the student does not want to take the test when it’s given, D’Agostino said an administrator or teacher will call the parent to get confirmation.

“Those that refuse, that’s fine,” he said. “Students won’t be forced to take the test.”

D’Agostino said initially there was some confusion about how to score students that weren’t taking the test.

“Some districts were putting zeros for not participating, but there was a meeting at RIDE and it was determined that those who aren’t participating will receive a score of ‘no score’ and they developed a coding system to indicate that,” he said.

Chandra Dee Massey said she has refused to allow her daughters to take part in the PARCC.

“A lot of research went into this,” she said.

Massey said she’s refusing to allow her younger daughter, a fourth-grader at Warwick Neck Elementary School, to participate for medical reasons and because she has an Individualized Education Program (IEP). She’s refusing to allow her older daughter, a seventh-grader at Gorton Junior High School, to participate for different reasons, including not spending enough adequate time preparing for standardized tests as well as past NECAP performance.

“My older daughter is an honors student but the reason she was kept out of honors math was her NECAP score, and now she’s locked out of honors math until ninth grade,” Massey said. “Now she’s struggling because she’s bored, not because it’s hard.”

Massey said she doesn’t trust the privacy and security of the data and also was concerned not having enough Chromebooks or experiencing network connectivity and bandwidth issues could jeopardize test scores.

“The objective should be what’s in the best interest of the kids,” she said.

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  • kimzee2

    Mt Hope High School was unable to take the tests due to problems...postponed for now. Great job Chandra Dee Massey. These tests rank kids based on one test score, not on all their work. It is a poor assessment at best. I hope RI gets its priorities straight and gets back to letting teachers teach, bringing educational decisions back to the individual schools and districts and rids itself of the Common core and it's horrendous aligned testing. Bring back the joy in learning. Get the government and big business out of our schools. Our teachers know what is best for our kids. These tests were rushed, as was the curriculum, and it does not deliver what was promised.

    Wednesday, March 18, 2015 Report this