A Publication of the
Madison Public
Schools Office of
Curriculum and
Instruction
June 2014
A Walk in the PARCC aims to provide all those with an interest in the Madison Public
Schools with the latest information about the
Common Core State
Standards and PARCC assessments.
Masthead Design:
Dani Bratton
Madison High School Teacher
More than one million students completed trial runs of the new tests developed by member states in the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. The tests are being developed in English language arts/ literacy and mathematics for grades 3-8 and high school.
"The completion of the PARCC field testing marks a key milestone in our development of an innovative assessment system aligned to the state-developed Common Core standards," said
Mitchell Chester, the Massachusetts education commissioner, who also chairs the PARCC governing board. "Overall, students had a very positive experience with the items and the new, online format. We'll now use the feedback from students and educators to refine the test for next year's operational testing."
The goal of the field test was to "try out the nearly 10,000 test items developed by teachers, college and university faculty and others from the PARCC states," according to Laura Slover, chief executive officer for PARCC, Inc., the non-profit managing the project for the states. She noted that at least 30 sets of eyes had seen each test item before it made it to the field test.
Even now, she said, testing experts will review the results of the tests to make sure each item is valid. Some may be discarded or require revision based on the field testing.
The field test was also an opportunity for students and schools to test out their own technology and the test platform, learn about the test administration procedures, and provide feedback. Student survey results revealed they generally like the online format of the test, and many found the test questions more engaging than their previous standardized tests. Test administrators also were positive, though they noted that the instructions for administrators were too long and could be clearer, something Slover said staff and state members would be working to address. Slover said additional detail from the surveys will be released in coming weeks. "We are compiling a list of lessons learned that we will share with states and the public this summer," Slover said.
The tests, which will be given starting next school year, are part of a larger assessment system, which includes other voluntary components: interim assessments to measure whether students are on track, diagnostic assessments that allow teachers to check in on student performance throughout the year and adjust instruction to meet student needs, formative tasks, speaking and listening assessments, and professional learning resources.
Education chiefs from the participating states say the field test has been vitally important to developing the assessment system, and useful for schools as they prepare for next year.
The preliminary breakdown of the roughly 790,000 computer-based tests completed by state is: Arizona, 69,236; Arkansas, 37,194; Colorado, 25,248; District of Columbia, 6,561; Illinois,
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Director of
Curriculum Matthew
Mingle will present a summary of students’ field test survey results and the district’s ongoing efforts to prepare our students at the
Board of Education meeting on July 22,
2014.
Follow PARCC on
Twitter
@PARCCplace
111,380; Louisiana, 39,938; Maryland, 73,220; Massachusetts, 69,980; Mississippi, 50,687;
New Jersey, 100,616; New Mexico, 11,997; New York, 15,905; Ohio, 112,527; Rhode Island,
16,375; Tennessee, 44,768. In addition, just over 10,000 students in Hillsborough County,
Florida, completed field tests and roughly 170,000 students took the performance-based portion of the test on paper and an estimated 100,000 or more took the end-of-year portion of the test on paper.
The field tests will not yield scores for students or schools - rather they are used to determine if the questions function as intended. In addition, test developers and the state experts who oversee the work will review research studies this fall, which include a comparison of paper- vs. computer-based assessments; differences in student performance and behavior between tablets, desktops and laptops; whether the text-to-speech accommodation works as intended; and several other studies.
Work will begin soon on preparing for the spring 2015 test and on developing additional test items for future years, as the PARCC states plan to release 40 percent of test items each year.
As part of our efforts to learn as much as possible from our students’ testing experience in order to improve our instructional practices in Madison, all participating students were asked to complete a survey about their experience. The links below will bring you to summaries of those survey results:
Central Avenue School
Kings Road School
Madison Junior School
Madison High School
Article adapted from “PARCC States Successfully Wrap Up Field Test” published at https://www.parcconline.org.
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Know the items and their advances. As with any computer-based test, the elements that make the tests more engaging can also be a little intimidating. Drag and drop, highlighting, using an equation editor – these are just a few of the tools covered in PARCC tutorials that allow both educators and students to learn the technology in advance.
In
Madison, teachers and administrators have been working with these tools and brainstorming the most effective way to incorporate them into instruction next year.
Most importantly, we want to ensure that students’ test results reflect what they know and can do in literacy and mathematics, not whether they struggle with the technology.
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Follow the dialogue to ensure problems are fixed quickly. Perhaps one of the most fascinating parts of the field test was the ability to follow educator and student conversations through social media. Educators, including here in Madison, have been incredibly transparent with and responsive to one another – sharing new information, quick fixes, and insights as the field test progressed. With this information, leaders at
PARCC, Pearson, and the New Jersey Department of Education were able to pinpoint issues as they arose. A Twitter hashtag emerged (#PARCCfieldtest) and fed continual growth for participants at all levels.
Article adapted from “A Few of PARCC’s Lessons from ‘Testing the Test’” by Callie Riley, published at inservice.ascd.org
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Office of Curriculum and
Instruction
Madison Public Schools
359 Woodland Road
Madison. NJ 07940 www.madisonpublicschools.org
@MadisonNJPS
Matthew A. Mingle, Director
Thirty-two Madison teachers, with the support of six content-area supervisors, spent the first full day of summer vacation deep in professional development related to curriculum writing.
An important component of the training was how teachers would incorporate the Common Core State
Standards into all new curricula. In addition to the easyto-see adjustments in high school math and English courses next year, great ideas abounded regarding how the district’s new elementary Spanish program could reinforce the Common Core’s emphasis on speaking and listening skills. Additionally, parents and students can expect to see closer than ever coordination between social studies and literacy at the elementary level.
With the development of the elementary guidance program and a secondary career counseling program, the district’s counselors will also be supporting students and staff.
After a long day of learning and applying their new knowledge and skills, this group of
Madison educators left prepared to continue working hard all summer long to insure the greatest possible educational opportunities for Madison’s students in September.
The Common Core State Standards and tests of students’ levels of achievement of them have become a key topic in the press over the past several months. There are many sources that can help answer questions about the standards. Recently, National Public Radio published a frequently asked questions page that addresses the most common.
Questions addressed include:

What is the Common Core?

What is the relationship between the Common Core and my kid’s math homework?

Why do we need the Common Core?

Where did the Common Core come from?
“A Walk in the PARCC” is designed to keep the entire Madison learning community informed as we transition to new educational standards and assessments. Please take a moment to complete a brief survey to guide the development of future newsletters.
The survey can be accessed at http://tinyurl.com/AWalkInTheParcc .
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