My daughter, who is in 8th grade, came home after taking the practice Geometry test and said that she, along with most of her classmates, totally “bombed” the test because there was trig on the test. Keep in mind, to my daughter, bombing is not acing everything. As all the kids in her class were “freaking out” after the practice test, her teacher has been giving them a crash course in trig this week. Just curious about the test as it obviously contains questions not covered in a traditional geometry class. Are all the tests configured that way, i.e., progressively harder and more advanced questions on subjects outside the subject matter being tested?
OTOH, for the language arts test, she said that the 8th grade vocabulary was extremely easy. However, writing three essays in a short period of time was very difficult as her teacher this year has been working on getting them to slow down and write thoughtful, detailed essays/answers to all questions. This seems in direct conflict with what is tested. Personally, I vote for her teacher’s method of teaching writing!
As I know absolutely nothing about these tests, I was wondering if my daughter just being an overly dramatic teenager or are the tests really configured this way?
The PARCC test is unproven and inappropriate. There is a growing number of parents and educators who are protesting the implementation of the common core and the PARCC exam.
Thanks @EPTR. I am not a huge fan of all the testing that is done. As I stated above, my daughter’s teacher is trying to teach his 8th grade students to slow down, think and craft well-thought out responses to prompts. Writing is not a race.
I never thought I would say this, but I increasingly favor the abolition of the Department of Education. It is not clear to me that any good it may do–and I don’t know what good it does, frankly–is far outweighed by the harm inflicted on children by the successive forms of high-stakes testing it has imposed.
Mu daughter is also very concerned about PARCC. She indicated there was no multiple choice which seemed to freak her out the most (and I can’t tell you if that is true or not).
My 8th grader has been taking the PARCC/ He is gifted and in honors, he has not said anything about it, other than one of his classmates "has a concussion and threw up " during the test. Typical 13 year old. D16 has asked to opt out. She is also gifted and in honors, she has already passed all the sections of the OGT (Ohio Graduation Test). I’m going to opt her out. Partially because she had an eloquent argument about it, and partially because they missed so much school for snow days pulling her out of her APs seems fruitless.
I do not know a single teacher who expects their students to do well on the PARCC this year. The format is new for every student who was not involved in pilot tests. It will take two or three more years before the results can be truly considered to be valid indicators of anything.
@happymomof1 - I don’t think that my daughter’s math teacher was concerned about the practice test results. It was the kids consternation about bombing the test that had her teach trig to them this week. Last night, my daughter said to me, “I want to do well because my teachers’ bonuses and reviews are based on test results.” Not quite sure how she knows that as I didn’t even know what test they were taking this year and have never talked about testing being tied to reviews/bonuses. She was looking up the PARCC test on the internet, so maybe she read something about it there. To me, that is a pressure that no 8th grader should feel.
As a senior in HS, I remember that my son said the same thing about his test in reference to his AP Lit teacher - not the bonus part, but wanting to do well for his teacher.
This is a hot topic at my house. I have lots of issues with all of this testing (and really in losing instruction time trying to get the kids ready for these).
This new testing makes me thankful that it won’t be something my kids have to deal with. What a colossall waste of everyone’s time and of taxpayer money! It is a huge issue in my state. This year the results won’t count but no one knows what will happen going forward.
Frankly if my children were in the public school system, I’d have them opt out of this test.
Okay, just got about a quarter of the way through the 11th grade English . Before stopping in exasperation. Dumb questions and stupid format. I am sure if I kept going I’d get a lousy grade, just out of sheer annoyance. But somehow I have some fancy college degrees in English, and teach freshman writing very successfully. This has nothing to do with what I teach.
I am an art teacher so thank God I don’t have to deal with this directly but I will tell you that I do not know one teacher who is in favor of this. And yes, they teach to the test and they take away meaningful instruction time to teach kids how to navigate the computerized process. Things such as drop down menus. It is a debacle. In my school the teachers are in a panic and are anticipating dismal results. It won’t be long before teacher performance is tied to these tests. Part of the test’s purpose is to mine data about your child and about the teachers that teach your child. Test scores will impact teacher status and if you think that there is pressure on kid’s now, just wait until that happens.
It is all about money. The school systems who signed on to do the field tests get more federal money. And Pearson writes the test AND the books and the curricula. It is all about money and our kids are the guinea pigs. Look up Diane Ravitch’s blog.
We should send the PARCC 8th grade test to rural China, South Korea, and the Benelux and ask 6th and 7th graders to try their luck at it. Or to save some money to some of the academies next to donut shops and dry cleaners.
All this resistance to basic testing is nauseating. Students in New Mexico walked out of classes to protest.
Diane Ravitch lost her mind eons ago. Her blog is pure garbage.
There isn’t a test teachers like. Testing should be easy to students who receive a modicum of adequate … teaching. Chances are that the teachers could not pass the tests given to their pupils. Little wonder they do not care for the tests.
When I read her writing it seems pretty sane to me. More importantly it RESONATES for me as someone who has worked in public education for over twenty years. http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/faculty/Diane_Ravitch