(I just sent this to my students and their parents, subsequent to information I received Friday afternoon.) Dear students and parents: This is a long message, but it is important. Please read, and make sure your classmates read it, too. [Our school] has been selected to administer the PARCC field tests from Pearson. A field test is given as a test of the test -- in other words, it is a dry run to see if the test works to measure the skills of actual students. Results of the field test help to determine how the actual test will be graded. It wasnt until this Friday that I was told what the details of the field test would mean for my students. For my ENGLISH 10 HONORS students: You are NOT taking the PARCC tests. However, all computer labs and libraries are being commandeered for test administration for the entire week. This means that we will not be able to finish your essays in the computer lab. I will try to get the laptop carts, but I think theyre all signed out. Thus, it is really important that you find a way to get your essays typed and handed in by Wednesday so I have time to grade them before quarterly averages go out. (Again, I didnt hear about this until after our class on Friday.) For my ENGLISH 10 students: You ARE taking the PARCC tests. Folks, I had no idea how crazy this was going to be. I had been told it would be two days, one class period each day. It now turns out that the test will be a total of five hours, spread out across three days. Yes, FIVE hours, just for the English part. Then youll be taking the Math part, for another two days. In other words, youll be testing all week. Youll be excused from some of your classes all week. Furthermore, youll have two more sessions of this test later in the year, of two days each for English and two days each for Math. In total, that means youll be doing about TWENTY-ONE hours of PARCC field testing. Im sorry. Im very, very sorry. Had I known what PARCC was really going to mean for time commitment, I would have told you sooner. I dont even know whats going to be on the test; they havent told us. I can promise you that, if you show up AND take the test, you will get a score of 100 in Grade-Level Tests and Assessments for each day of the test. Thats the least I can do for the effort youll put in. Youll get your schedule for testing on Monday. My classes will be meeting in the library. For my ADVANCED JOURNALISM students: You are not taking the PARCC for my class, but you may be taking it for another class. As a result, I have no idea what our attendance will be like in 9th period next week. Were going to have to play this by ear. PARENTS: As above, I offer my apologies for not letting you know about this ahead of time. Until Friday I had no idea of the time commitment this would mean for your students (and Im not convinced that the not being told until the last minute was accidental). If you have any questions or concerns, please dont hesitate to contact me through Engrade or by calling the school at [number].
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 11:58:47 +0000
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