Some Parents Are Opting Out From Taking The PARCC Readiness Assessment Tests

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)

Teachers and parents opposed to the tests have been urging a boycott for months, but superintendents are only now beginning to see how many students won’t take part.

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. These high quality, computer-based K–12 assessments in Mathematics and English Language Arts/Literacy give teachers, schools, students, and parents better information about whether students are on track in their learning and for success after high school, and tools to help teachers customize learning to meet student needs. The PARCC assessments will be ready for states to administer during the 2014-15 school year.

PARCC is made up of: Arkansas, Colorado, District of Columbia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland,Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, and Rhode Island. The states in PARCC educate millions of elementary, middle and high school students across the country. In addition, Pennsylvania is a “participating state.

In Tenafly, about 20 have said no to testing. In the Ridgewood school district, more than 100 students have refused to take new state tests.

Disenchantment over the tests stems from fears over how difficult the exams will be for the students who have to take them — those in Grades 3 to 11. Critics worry that the tests in math and language arts will cut into instruction time, and school officials grouse about the expense of computer upgrades needed to give the tests electronically……The tests will not be used to judge students until 2019 when they become a graduation requirement for 11th-graders…..

To find out more about PARCC testing click here

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