What is PARCC testing?

This year, Colorado students will for the first time take Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers assessments in mathematics and English.

PARCC is a multi-state consortium working together to develop computer-based assessments to measure students’ progress.

In 2008, Colorado legislators passed a bill reforming the education system. The following year, the Colorado Department of Education created the overhauled Colorado Academic Standards.

The new standards for writing, reading and mathematics incorporate the controversial Common Core State Standards.

Because standards function as the foundation of assessments, assessments models were likewise retooled to adapt to the revised standards, resulting in the Colorado Measures of Academic Success.

While science and social studies assessments were developed within Colorado, the consortium-based PARCC tests are used for math and English.

PARCC testing entails two components: a performance-based assessment administered after approximately 75 percent of the school year and a end-of-year assessment administered after approximately 90 percent of the school year.

More than a million students throughout PARCC states participated in field testing last year, but this is the first year the assessments will be fully incorporated in Colorado schools. The tests are administered in grades 3-11 for English and grades 3-8, with three high school assessments, for math.

The tests, which are more rigorous than previous assessments, align to the more arduous standards.

Student scores on the tests are used in the state’s accountability model to ensure schools and districts are attaining adequate academic achievement.

Because a large part of Colorado’s educational accountability system is based on the results from state assessments, legislators passed a bill last year allowing for adjustments during the assessment transition period.

While assessment participation rates will be used to calculate school districts’ accreditation ratings this year, student performance data is optional.

Since PARCC assessments are aligned with Common Core standards, they have faced criticism throughout the states engaged in the consortium.

In 2012, the Colorado State Board of Education asked legislators to restore authority over statewide assessments to the board, “in so doing, allow Colorado to withdraw as a governing member of PARCC […] thereby allowing the board to direct the commissioner to develop an assessment aligned with the Colorado Academic Standards, for implementation in Spring 2015.”

Legislators, however, did not act on the request.

Last month, responding to mounting criticism of the PARCC assessments, the State Board of Education passed a motion to not hold districts accountable for low participation on the tests due to parent refusals.

On March 11, the board also approved a resolution supporting parents’ rights to make choices about their child’s involvement in assessments.

“The Colorado State Board of Education is committed to upholding parent rights on their child’s participation in testing and related data collection,” the resolution states in part.