• PARCC RESOURCE SITE
     
    The purpose of this site, its resource links, and its videos is to provide information on the PARCC tests, which will be administered in two parts for the first time this year during the months March and May.  The information provided on this site comes directly from sources such as the New Jersey Department of Education and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC).  This site does not express the opinions of Ridgefield Public Schools or any individual employed by them. 
     
    The Goals of PARCC Testing
    • State standardized testing such as NJASK/HSPA in the recent past and PARCC beginning in 2015 are designed to evaluate student achievement in mastering the State Standards in various content areas. 
    • PARCC will evaluate mathematics and English language arts achievement in Grades 3 through 11. 
    • PARCC will evaluate student achievement in alignment with the Common Core State Standards.  
    How Will PARCC Data Be Used?
    • PARCC test scores in Grades 4 through 8 will be used to determine student growth percentiles (SGPs) from year to year in comparison to students' expected growth, which is based on previous test achievement. To view a video on how SGPs are calculated by the State, please visit this link: SGP Video.
    • The median SGP score for a class or course of students will be used as 10% of their teacher's evaluation. This applies only to teachers of mathematics and English language arts in Grades 4-8. Student test scores will not be used in the evaluations of other teachers.
    • The graduating classes of 2016, 2017, and 2018 can use passing scores on a PARCC Math and ELA test as one possible qualification for graduation. Scores on other competency tests can substitute for PARCC as a requirement for graduation. These substitute tests include the SAT, ACT, ASVAB-AFQT, or Accuplacer tests for ELA and math. 
    • For more information on graduation requirements, please visit this link: Graduation requirements class of 2016, 2017, and 2018.
    The Design of PARCC Testing
    • PARCC is split into two parts, which will be combined into one score for student achievement:
      • PBA - administered 75% into the academic year and designed as a Performance Based Assessment with extended response items, which take longer to score.
      • EOY - administered 90% into the academic year and designed as an End of Year assessment with more multiple choice and short answer responses for faster scoring
    PBA and EOY
    • PARCC is designed for online administration and most of our students will be using Macbook Airs for testing.
    • PARCC has been developed using the philosophy of universal design. Universal design provides accessibility features embedded into the test for all test takers. Information about these features can be found at this link: Accessibility Features. To view an interactive tutorial on these features, which you can practice with your child, please go to this link: Accessibility Feature Tutorial.
      • A second tier of accessibility features are offered to students based on a personal needs profile. These include choices of font color and text-to-speech for reading math problems. Ridgefield will include text-to-speech in mathematics for all of our students in grades 3 through 8, since this is similar to what teachers might do in class when reading a math problem to their students.
      • A third tier of testing accommodations are offered to special education students through their Individualized Education Plans (IEPs).
      • One embedded feature for all students is extra time to take the test. Each testing unit is timed for 1.5 times the estimated on-task time needed for the test, to allow all students more than adequate time for testing. For instance, if a testing session is estimated to take students 50 minutes, then the test is timed to provide 75 minutes to all students. Below is a link to the testing time spans for all units. This document includes the time estimated for taking the test, as well as the time allotted for testing.
    PARCC Test Session Time Spans
    • Click HERE for a detailed list of testing times for each unit of testing during the PBA and the EOY. 
    • This list indicates both the estimated testing time needed by students as well as time allocated for testing (which is approximately one and a half times for all students).
    • Comparisons of testing times between NJASK/HSPA testing and PARCC testing are outlined in the chart below.
    Testing Time Comps
     
    NOTE: PARCC minutes are listed to reflect Algebra I in Grade 8, Geometry in Grade 9, and Algebra II in Grade 10.  For those students who take Algebra I in Grade 9, testing will shift up a year with PARCC 8 in Grade 8.  Grade 8 Math PARCC time spans are the same as Grades 6 and 7.
     
    General Overview of the PARCC Tests

    The following brochure was developed for parents and teachers and provides a general overview of the test.
     
    Brochure 1    Brochure 2
    Click HERE to download and view the PDF.