The Governing Board of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) met on June 26, and at that meeting, PARCC’s field testing plans for the 2013-2014 school year were unveiled. Schools will be notified in August if they have been selected to participate in the test.
[Ooh, ooh! I can see you’re all just raising your hand to volunteer for this field test. I’ve seen some of the guidelines, and if you’re a principal at one of the schools selected, be prepared to wing it. That’s all I’m sayin’. Now, back to the press release …]
Earlier this year PARCC concluded successful trial runs of assessment items and questions with 2,300 students in six states. This summer, additional trial runs with 4,800 students in four states will allow PARCC states to continue testing the quality of assessment items and their accessibility for students.
Then, in spring 2014, the PARCC Field Test will be administered to over one million students across the 21 states in the consortium, including both Maryland and Illinois. The field test is designed to ensure items are accurately measuring the knowledge and skills tested and that the questions provide a valid and reliable result of what students know and can do.
The PARCC Field Test will help inform test development, in preparation for the first operational administration of PARCC in 2014-2015, and will give schools and districts the opportunity to experience the administration of PARCC assessments.
During summer 2013, PARCC will select schools for the field test to comprise a representative sample of students across PARCC states. Schools will be notified of their selection in August. After the schools’ participation is finalized in fall 2013, a sample of classrooms will be selected to participate from each school. The field test sample size for each state will be proportional to each state’s student enrollment (with a minimum sample size). More information is available here.
[One more comment here … Each school will be free to select students who participate, yet each state has data as to what the student demographics look like in that state. I have contended from the initial development of these guidelines that states should just tell schools what students to pick. Although I’m sure principals will do their best to select students who represent every demographic group at their schools and PARCC will probably get a decent sampling, there are just better ways to do this that put less stress on principals. See the NAEP administration guidelines, perhaps. Did anybody check??]
The vast majority of students participating in field testing will only take about one-quarter of the PARCC test, and no student participating in field testing will take the full assessment.
“We are developing PARCC as a next generation assessment system that will allow states to assess new college and career ready standards,” said Massachusetts Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester, who chairs the PARCC Governing Board. “Field testing is an integral part of every testing program, and in the case of PARCC, will help us better understand how well this new assessment assesses a broader range of the skills and competencies we value in the standards.”
[Did everybody catch that: an assessment assesses something? Oh, and it’s also being characterized as “new.” That’s a good one, Mr Chester!]
Manual for students with IEPs also approved
In the afternoon session, the Governing Board voted to approve the first edition of the accessibility and accommodations manual, which is a comprehensive policy document that will support local educators in the selection, administration and evaluation of accommodations for the assessment of students with disabilities and English learners on the PARCC End-of-Year, Performance-Based, and Mid-Year assessment components.