A Walk Through the P.A.R.C.C.

On May 7th, OPS presented an informational session to our parents reviewing the Common Core Standards and the upcoming P.A.R.C.C. (Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) assessment. Below is a brief synopsis of the information presented during this session.

New Jersey has always held our students to high standards. In 1996, the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards were adopted. These standards stated what our children needed to know at the end of the school year within the context of nine content areas, including Math and Literacy. In 2010, New Jersey adopted the Core Curriculum State Standards. The CCSS are for Math and ELA (English Language Arts), infusing literacy into the interdisciplinary subjects. (The NJCCS are still currently utilized for the other content areas.) The biggest shifts in ELA are the increase in informational text, and citing evidence from the text to support reasoning. The CCSS ensure authentic and rigorous literature, as well as nonfiction texts, are analyzed within your child's education. In math, the changes include: more focus on fewer topics, developing a deeper understanding of the concepts, mathematical reasoning, building fluency in math facts, and applying all mathematical knowledge to real world situations.

The PARCC is one of two tests created to assess the achievement of the Common Core Standards. (The other is Smarter Balanced.) The PARCC is computer-based, providing our students with a more engaging and interactive testing procedure. The students will be assessed using authentic literature and non-fiction pieces - not passages created for a specific test. Students will also be exposed to various forms of media along with a text, such as viewing a video clip and referencing parts in a short-constructed response. This, along with PARCC's goal of providing the school, the students, the parents, and the teachers with timely results to make this data more functional for our children are the largest advantages.

For more on the differences between the Smarter Balanced and PARCC assessments, click below.

Our students will be assigned a summative score based on two sections of the PARCC assessment. The first assessment is the PBA (Performance-Based Assessment). The PBA will be administered after approximately 75% of the school year. The students will analyze texts, complete a writing task, solve multi-step problems, and construct a mathematical argument while applying concepts to real world situations.

After 90% of the school year has passed, the students will complete the EOY (End of the Year) portion of the PARCC assessment. Here the focus will be on reading comprehension and mathematical fluency.

Students will also partake in a speaking and listening assessment during the school year. These results will not be included in the summative score of the student. The students in grades 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 will listen to a pre-recorded speech and/or media production and respond orally to questions and discussion topics. The students in grade 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 will complete a research project, present their findings, and respond spontaneously to audience questions.

Certain skills will need to be integrated into our instruction regarding the technology usage during the test. For example, the students will need to be taught how scroll down to finish reading a story, how to click on tabs to alternate stories, and how to utilize the accessibility features.

Keyboarding skills will also continue to be a focus of our technology program, along with practicing typing into a text box to determine how much has been written.

Most curricula have already been revised and the others are in the process, to ensure alignment with the Common Core Standards. Teachers will be provided with professional development sessions as to how best to incorporate and integrate the CCSS into an engaging and authentic learning experience for our children.

OPS is off to a great start! Our students are already held to high standards, and students in grades 2 - 6 are currently participating in online assessments via Linkit! Other online programs used are Study Island, RAZ, Brainpop, and Bookflix. These, along with our interactive SMARTboard lessons with our document cameras, assist in providing students with an enhanced educational experience daily.

Visit the OPS website by clicking the link above. Under the "Students" tab, click on the grade level of your child. You will find many resources, including links to keyboarding sites. Learning how to keyboard will only benefit your child, and provide them with the confidence and ability to perform on the assessment as well as in their future.