Preparing for PARCC

Preparing+for+PARCC

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is a group of states working together to develop a set of assessments that measure whether students are on track to be successful in college and their careers.

Bel Air High School has been starting testing this month of March. Maryland is one of the 12 states that have to do PARCC testing.  The other states include Arkansas, Colorado, District of Columbia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, and Rhode Island.

Bel Air High School is requiring their students in Algebra II and English 10 to take the test. Districts notify schools as to whether they will participate in the field tests. Schools and classrooms are randomly selected. This test is to ensure the readiness of the upcoming college experience and to help student stay on the right pathway to their career.

The PARCC testing will not be releasing scores anytime soon. This is simply to “test the test” as the assessment is given out in the year 2014-2015 to the students. This year is a practice run to start the new epidemic of testing in the near future. No results will be shared with students, schools or districts, so there will be no consequences for you or for your students.

This test is usually a computerized test. Harford County is actually the only county in Maryland that will be taking the pencil and paper version of the test. The states anticipate that in the future, all students will take the PARCC assessments on a computer, along with many other states joining the current 12. Advantages come with computer-based testing will be engaged for students, result in lower costs, and ultimately allow for faster scoring and reporting of results.

The testing will take no longer than 3 hours for most students. Here at Bel Air, at the end of homeroom, students should report to their designated testing areas. This paper test begins at 7:45 and ends around 9:40. However, if the entire class finishes before 9:40, they are allowed to return to their first period class. This does affect all other students’ schedules, seeing as first period is extended to 2 hours, and second period is a mere 20 minutes.

Although the March testing is complete, there will be a second testing period after spring break on April 15 and April 28-30.