WESTFIELD – The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ recent selection of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, test is gathering momentum, as 1,097 schools statewide have been selected to participate in the pilot test, including schools in Westfield.
“PARCC is a follow-up to the Common Core standards accepted by state government and the state education commissioner,” said Ronald Rix, the director of technology & business services for Westfield Public Schools. “(The Common Core) gave us data to compare states from all over the country, from Tennessee to Massachusetts.”
Rix added that, prior to the adoption of the Common Core, the state of Massachusetts was routinely ranked atop the nation in certain exams, but due to the rigorous nature of some its tests, it struggled in others.
“States chose either the PARCC or the Smarter Balanced Assessment,” he said. “(PARCC) is a 21st century tool to measure student knowledge as opposed to the traditional paper and pencil methods.”
In Westfield, seven schools will be taking the test, with Highland, Southampton Road, and Juniper Park Elementary Schools taking a paper version, while North and South Middle Schools, Westfield High School and Westfield Vocational-Technical High School will be taking it online.
“The students will be taking the performance-based assessment in March and April, in which they’ll be working on solving problems in real life situations,” Rix said. “By the end of the school year, by May and June, they’ll be tested again to see their mastery of the standards.”
He also said that the district’s plan is to send notifications to the parents of students whose classes have been selected for the test “two weeks after February break”, and that the test wouldn’t be issued to tenth graders, who are already engrossed in the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, test.
Rix reiterated that the test is only a pilot in English Language Arts and Math, but Gateway Superintendent Dr. David Hopson, whose district also has classes taking the exam, hopes the pilot gets expanded upon, “given the amount of money the state has put into it.”
“The state chose which schools it wanted to test and we have two classes that will taking it,” Hopson said. “We’re in pretty decent shape (for the test) because we have enough laptops in the classrooms.”
While the exam is being given to students from grades 3 to 11 throughout the state, Hopson’s district will only see two classrooms taking the pilot test. A third class was dropped due to only having a small number of students.
“Implementing the test for all those grade levels is a challenging bar that the state DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) has set,” he said.
In Southwick, School Superintendent Dr. John Barry is skeptical of the amount of time being devoted to the pilot, which is being implemented in Woodland and Granville Elementary, and Powder Mill Middle School next month.
“We don’t have much choice,” he said regarding the state’s selection of schools for the pilot. “I think the testing sessions are a little longer than I would want it to be, especially because of how close it is to the MCAS. But we’re only being tested in eight classrooms across the district, so it’s a small percentage.”
