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The quality of the test items
themselves was hard for teachers to
judge, since the exams are secure and
students received different versions.
Several local associations — including
those in Somerville, Revere and
Burlington — invited teachers and
parents to try out sample PARCC items
before the field test so they could see
the level of difficulty and experience
what the online test is like. Links to
sample items and a practice test are
available on the MTA website.
“Teachers have said some of the
questions appear to be difficult,” said
Burlington School Superintendent Eric
Conti. However, Conti said he was not
sure if the content was difficult or the
issues involved “instructions and how
it was laid out on the computer.”
Despite fears about PARCC
being a timed test, most educators
interviewed by MTA Today said most
of their students finished with time to
spare.
“Even our kids who took the
longest managed to finish within the
allotted time,” said Marcus.
Some teachers recognized that
their curricula are not fully aligned
with PARCC, a test designed to
measure student mastery of the
Common Core. “To be blunt about it,”
said Marcus, “we haven’t done that
much work in fractions by this time in
the year, yet there were a lot of fraction
questions on the test.”
Several raised the concern that
PARCC could require more testing
time than MCAS.
“It’s an awful lot of testing,”
said Conti. “If we go this route, we
have to make sure it is done in a
way that minimizes the disruption
to more important instruction and
assessment.”
Chester told MTA Today he had
heard complaints about the user
interface and logistics, but that he
also heard good reviews from many
students and teachers he met with
in Malden, Revere and Charlestown
during the first week of the field test.
“I’ve probably talked to easily
150 students,” he said. “They were
overwhelmingly positive.”
Revere Superintendent Paul Dakin
agreed. “Almost every kid we met with
said they enjoyed PARCC more than
MCAS,” Dakin said. “When it first
started, the teachers were a nervous
wreck. As the week went on they
started to overcome their anxiety. The
students didn’t bat an eye.”
Chester added that PARCC
provides several tools that should help
special needs students, including a text-
to-speech application. It also includes
a bilingual dictionary application for
English language learners.
Board of Elementary and
Secondary Education members have
raised concerns about whether students
who have limited access to computers
at home will be disadvantaged. Chester
acknowledged the concern, but
expressed optimism that students at all
income levels may be more comfortable
with computers than some fear.
“I observed testing sessions
with third-graders in Revere and
Malden,” he said. “These were
diverse classrooms that included
ELL students, different ethnicities,
low-income students and special
education students. What struck
me was that students are a lot more
facile than adults in engaging the
technology.”
Many have raised concerns
about whether schools will have the
technology to administer PARCC
online by 2016. That is the year the
test is supposed to be mostly online,
though a paper version will still be
available.
One Brockton teacher burst
out laughing when she was asked if
she thought Brockton High School
would have enough computers to
accommodate the school’s 4,100
students.
Chester noted that the federal
government has already allocated more
money for school technology and that
a technology bond bill is currently
before the state Legislature.
Others expressed concern about
logistics and space issues.
For example, MTA Board
member Ginger Armstrong, a digital
arts and technology teacher in Lee,
was upset that her classroom, which
is a computer lab, was taken over
for test administration, depriving
her students of access to the room to
prepare for an art exhibit.
Chester said that the challenges
are real, but the need to bring
technology into schools across the
Commonwealth is great. “Let me
be clear about something,” he said.
“We need to get there technologically
not because of PARCC but because
our teachers need 21st-century
classrooms.”
For more information on PARCC,
please visit MTA’s PARCC toolkit,
www.massteacher.org/advocating/
toolkits/ccss/ PARCC.aspx.
Several local associations — including those in Somerville,
Revere and Burlington — invited teachers and parents to
try out sample PARCC items before the field test so they
could see the level of difficulty and experience what the
online test is like.
Continued from Page 5
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