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20 Reasons

1/18/2015

10 Comments

 
Picture
My 8 year old son practicing his typing at home in preparation for the upcoming PARCC tests (sarcasm).

PARCC is very controversial and has sparked many debates. As a parent, taxpayer, and educator I often struggle with the impact these assessments have on our students, my own children, fellow colleagues, and education as a whole. Here are twenty reasons for and against PARCC.......

Reason #1 (For) ~ Students need to know how they progress from year to year in subjects like math and literacy.

Reason #2 (Against) ~ Schools will be in testing mode for 40 days (20 in March and 20 in May)

Reason #3 (For) ~ Parents need to know how their children progress from year to year in subjects like math and literacy.

Reason #4 (Against) ~ The test results do not come back until late summer or early fall. This timing makes it incredibly difficult to help students when results come back six months later.

Reason #5 (For) ~ Teachers need to know their students' progress, or lack there of, in order to impact future instruction.

Reason #6 (Against) ~ The computers being used for testing will not be available for other students who are not testing for close to 40 days out of the school year.

Reason #7 (For) ~ Schools can use test results along with other pieces of evidence to help promote the success of students.

Reason #8 (Against) ~ Teachers and support staff will be pulled out of their regular classes to proctor the tests for up to 40 school days.

Reason #9 (For) ~ The shift from paper tests to online tests has forced districts to buy more technology and upgrade infrastructure.

Reason #10 (Against) ~ Critics of standardized testing claim that PARCC is technically not being used for diagnostic purposes.

Reason #11 (For) ~ Ultimately the PARCC will have results made available in a more timely fashion which will address student learning gaps.

Reason #12 (Against) ~ PARCC scores are being tied to teacher evaluations. Is this really fair given that it's one piece of the puzzle?

Reason #13 (For) ~ Students are working on their typing skills more at much younger age in preparation for the PARCC test. This will help them down the road when they enter the real world.

Reason #14 (Against) ~ STRESS. Students, Teachers, Administrators, and Parents are going through undo stress as it relates to testing. This can not be good for anyone's health.

Reason #15 (For) ~ Over time results will show which schools and teachers are ineffective.

Reason #16 (Against) ~ PARCC testing is costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

Reason #17 (For) ~ Standardized testing results help people understand how schools match up with others nationally and globally.

Reason #18 (Against) ~ Tech staff have no choice but to be solely focus on ensuring that the online tests are working at all times. What about other tech issues in non tested learning areas?

Reason #19 (For) ~ Students work hard in school preparing for the PARCC exam. This is their time to shine and show what they know.

Reason #20 (Against) ~ Finnish students rarely take standard tests and are tops in the world at educating their students. Why is it that the United States wants to compare themselves to every other top performing country except for Finland?

Not sure if I totally agree with the reasons listed above, but I am glad I got it off my chest. It will be interesting in the coming months and years to see how these new age standardized tests impact the educational world. Let's all try to keep an open mind and continue to do what's best for kids.

Brad Currie is the author of All Hands on Deck: Tools for Connecting Educators, Parents, and Communities. He is one of the founding partners of Evolving Educators LLC. Brad is an ASCD Emerging Leader, Bammy Award Finalist, ClassDojo Thought Leader and Google Certified Educator. He currently serves as a K-8 Supervisor of Instruction and Middle School Vice Principal for the Chester School District in Chester, NJ. Learn more about Brad by following him on Twitter @bradmcurrie or visiting his website at www.bradcurrie.net.

10 Comments
Jay link
1/17/2015 10:58:01 am

Well stated, Brad. It's nice to see a balance. Pro and pitfall are needed in such hot topic issues.

Reply
Brad Currie
1/17/2015 11:11:15 pm

Thanks Jay. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Reply
Maggie Bolado
1/17/2015 11:11:25 am

Thank you for posting, Brad. Extremely helpful in order to balance our thoughts effectively.

Reply
Brad Currie
1/17/2015 11:12:01 pm

Thanks for reading Maggie. Definitely a tough balancing act.

Reply
Jill Berkowicz
1/17/2015 10:51:22 pm

The paranoia that educators are not fulfilling their commitment to educate students "properly" has led the at least part of the public to believe that accountability is paramount. Your points about the rhetoric being used to improve instruction is stellar. Accountability of teachers based on how children take a test is a very weak argument. If building and district leadership had a way to understand, support teacher learning, improve local assessment, both formative and summative, set a high bar and work for all students to strive toward it... it would be better don't you think? The missed opportunity these past decades is we as a profession didn't do a good enough job of taking care of this business in house. Now, out of our hands, we've all got a problem.

Reply
Brad Currie
1/17/2015 11:14:35 pm

I hear ya Jill. Fair points especially with local assessments. I wish we could get out of the mindset that we constantly need to worry about how nearby school districts and other states match up with each other. We should take this time and energy and go visit schools more and share best practices. It would have more impact on student success.

Reply
Jay Billy
1/17/2015 10:53:03 pm

Thanks for helping to put this in an organized and fair way. So many thoughts...

Reply
Brad Currie
1/17/2015 11:15:42 pm

Thanks for reading Jay. So many ways to look at this whole thing, especially with many of us being parents, taxpayers, and educators.

Reply
Susan Verdi link
1/19/2015 03:51:11 am

Brad- You have captured what is on the mind of many teachers. I think you provided a fair assessment of the pros and cons. I too have an 8 year old son who loves school but is less than thrilled about the time he will spend away from his regular instruction while taking the tests. The time and resources involved are genuine concerns. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Reply
Brad Currie
1/19/2015 09:14:47 pm

Susan, thanks for the kind words. Hopefully the disruptions are minimal.

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