There is a new PARCC in town

There is a new PARCC in town

photo by Bluestocking

From the early 2000s, up until this year, Maryland public schools have regularly implemented Maryland School Assessments (MSAs) for students in grades 3 through 8, and High School Assessments (HSAs) for students in high school level classes. This year, however, a new standardized test was given, called the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test. (summary lead)

A recent product of No Child Left Behind, PARCC testing is meant to evaluate college readiness in students. It is taken on the Google chromebook, and passages and/or problems can be presented in either an audible or visual format.

There are two summative portions of the PARCC assessment: a performance-based assessment (PBA), where English students analyze and write about a text while mathematics students apply skills and solve problems, and an end-of-year assessment (EOY), where English students focus on reading comprehension and mathematics students on innovative problem solving. Most students have taken the PBA already, but will not be taking the EOY until later in the year.

This year at Springbrook, PARCC was only compulsory for Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and English 10 students, who would take one part of the test on one morning, and the second part of the test on the afternoon of the next day. Different test subjects called for different testing times. This caused sporadic attendance and missed work for many students, putting pressure on them and teachers alike.

“It was frustrating because not every student missed the same day, so they had to make up different things at different times, and not everyone was on the same page,” Elizabeth Kelley, a government teacher said.

When compared to the HSAs, it can be found that the PARCC test, while having fewer questions, has a longer running time. It is taken electronically, and thus kinder to the environment than the HSAs and MSAs, which are taken in a booklet, with one or two questions shown per page.

PARCC multiple choice questions are more subjective and less cut-and-dry than HSA and MSA questions, with the test taker often being instructed to choose more than one answer for a question. Due to this, and the PARCC’s requirement of extensive essays, it may be construed as more difficult than previously taken standardized tests.

“I thought the PARCC test was alright, but the run time was unnecessarily long, and the questions were harder and more elaborate,” freshman Felicitas Chikelos said.

It is not yet known if we’ll be made to take the PARCC test again next year. Although general reception from the Springbrook-going public has been mainly negative, the test’s fate ultimately relies on how people scored. Though perceivably inconsequential, they may affect our student body in the long run.