More than 1 million students across 14 states and D.C. have been trying out almost 10,000 test items as the group deploys its pilot exams. During a call with reporters, PARCC officials pushed the same idea as Smarter Balanced and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have done in recent days: Glitches are expected and welcome. Massachusetts Education Commissioner and PARCC Governing Board Chair Mitchell Chester said that when glitches happen, “we can’t assume that things aren’t going well.” Laura McGiffert Slover, CEO of the PARCC non-profit, said each test item has had almost “30 sets of eyes on it” and said the testing group anticipates “that the newness of this program will generate a few hiccups.”
Chester also said the technology is ambitious. Students will take the test on desktop computers, laptops and tablets. In Massachusetts, over 1,000 schools and 80,000 students are participating. But about one third of those students will take the pilot test with paper and pencil because schools aren’t ready for the digital test, he said. Out of 1 million students piloting the test, about 25 percent will take it via paper and pencil.
But what about the opt out movement? Some school districts are debating if parents should have a choice as to whether their kids take the pilot exam. Chester said maybe eight or 10 school districts out of 350 have raised that question in his state. “In our state there is no provision for an opt out,” he said. “We’re working with those school districts and committees through written and oral communication to convey that to them … often it’s a matter of inaccurate or lack of information about what this field test is.”
Mike Petrilli, executive vice president of the Fordham Institute, had some harsh words for states that have opted to develop their own Common Core exams. They may save money or cut down on time spent testing, but Petrilli suggested they might end up cheating their students in the long run. “I’m pretty skeptical right now that anyone but PARCC and Smarter Balanced has put in the time and money” to create good exams truly aligned to the standards, he said. The extensive field test is part of the ongoing development of high-quality testing that PARCC and Smarter Balanced are pursuing.
