Adams-Cheshire School Picked for PARCC Field Testing
CHESHIRE, Mass. — Adams-Cheshire Regional School District is slated to be one of the first districts in the state to partake in a field study of a new set of tests aimed to better prepare students for life after grade school.
When Massachusetts issues its initial series of tests next year, C.T. Plunkett Elementary School in Adams will be one of the first to administer them, according to an announcement made during the School Committee meeting at Cheshire School on Monday.
Whereas Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests have been the barometer for student performance through high school for more than a decade, a new standardized test is set to take its place with the use of federal funding.
Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is aimed to mark students' progress from third grade through high school in a way that better informs teachers how to aid in student instruction and support. Its goal is to help "build a pathway to college and career readiness" for students, according to its website.
Massachusetts is one of 18 states, along with the District of Columbia and Virgin Islands set to administer the new assessments beginning in 2014-15. The U.S. Department of Education granted PARCC some $186 million in funding through its Race to the Top assessment competition, which is designed to better measure student achievement and alignment to Common Core standards.
According to letters sent out by the office of Mitchell D. Chester, commissioner of elementary and secondary education, PARCC will administer the field test to about 15 percent of students enrolled in Grades 3-11 in spring 2014. Most students will take only one component of the test and about 1,250 schools will participate.
PARCC assessments will be ready for all participating states to administer in two years, including approximately 22 million students in total.
Plunkett Principal Michelle Colvin explained plans for third-grade students to take the PARCC assessments in mathematics, in place of the MCAS version, in 2014. These tests will be taken during the same period of time as the English language arts, or ELA, tests. Scores from PARCC assessments taken during the field study will not be reported to participating schools.
This news came as part of a presentation evaluating the most recent student performance on the MCAS tests, in which the Adams-Cheshire District is placed at Assessment Level 3. In all, there are five assessment levels, designed to demonstrate progress in overall MCAS test scoring.
The levels are based annually on amount of movement upward, from failing to needs improvement, or from proficient to advanced.
In a presentation by Early Childhood District Coordinator Jacqueline Fortier, Cheshire Principal Peter Bachli and Colvin identified what they termed causes and barriers that negatively effected the outcome of the MCAS tests, such as lack of personnel, school readiness and technology and a new curriculum.
Among efforts to improve MCAS test scores, Hoosac Valley High School has added an MCAS prep tutor, while staff at Cheshire and Plunkett schools have instituted enhanced MCAS data analysis.
Tags: ACRSD, MCAS, PARCC, testing,
