West Morris Welcomes PARCC Testing

Students taking an online standardized test. photocreds wikipedia

Students taking an online standardized test. photocreds wikipedia

Katie Sciortino, Web Editor

The New Jersey Department of Education chose to put an end to HSPA for high schoolers, and NJASK for middle and elementary school kids.  The new standardized testing for all students is the PARCC.

The PARCC  (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) is a new standardized test for us high schoolers (excluding seniors).  Throughout the month of March, Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors will be participating in the new PARCC testing.

For two periods a day starting March 3, students will be given two extended periods a day, meaning our first two classes are shorter, with a longer class ranging from 76-90 minutes, depending on the test being taken that day.  During these extended periods, you will take the test, depending on which class you have.  The PARCC is testing students in Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and English I,II,III.

While some are taking their PARCC test, others are going to attend their regular class, but for a longer period of time.

Senior, Jess Holey, when asked about how she felt about the longer class periods,  said, “the entire month of March our schedule is going to very different than what we’re used to.  It’ll be a big adjustment, and extended periods are going to be difficult to get used to.”

But what does that mean for the Seniors, who don’t have to take the PARCC testing? In years’ past, Seniors were not required to take any standardized test, and could come in about two-three hours later than the other students.When I asked Mr. Braun about this situation, he said Seniors, along with the rest of the student body,  will be coming in at the normal time.

Typically teachers were asked in past years to not give out homework to students who were taking standardized tests.  Now that the PARCC will take up nearly an entire month of testing students, teachers are permitted to give homework out to students.

Mr. Braun stated, “Teachers may assign reasonable amounts of homework.  We expect that some teachers will rely more extensively on using Haiku.”

All across New Jersey, students will be taking the PARCC for the first time.  Controversy from parents on whether taking this new, apparently expensive, and extremely challenging, test is worth it.

As stated in an editorial post about the PARCC tests on nj.com, “…parents, students, and educators do not like the impact PARCC tests are having on their public schools and they are organizing to push back. Signs of mounting discontent are everywhere.”

Hopefully after the testing in March, parents, students, and educators will be more open and accepting of the PARCC testing and all of its benefits.