Thirty six freshmen randomly selected by the State field tested the Partnership for Assessment of College and Career Readiness exam (PARCC exam) this past week at the school. The school is testing the PARCC to see if it will work with the iPad technology currently in use in the District.

District 95  has elected to try the summative (cumulative) version of the PARCC exam for the 2014-2015 school year, which will test students at a point about 75 percent of the way through the year (Late February) and again at 90 percent of the year (Early April). The non-summative version of the test is given at midpoint in the year.  The test contains an English Language Arts Section and a Mathematics section, according to the PARCC website.

Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors will be required to take the PARCC test twice a year starting next school year. Testing at three quarters of the way through the school year would require about five to six hours for students to complete the exam, and testing at the 90 percent point in the year would require four to five hours of testing, based on numbers found on the PARCC website.

The PARCC exam moves away from traditional standardized testing methods, with less reliance on multiple choice and more on student performance on tasks closer to those they perform in classes, according to Eric Hamilton, assistant principal of curriculum and instruction.

“There are multiple choice sections, but there are also sections in which they have to write, and in the math they are hoping to have a drag and drop section,” Hamilton said.  “The PARCC is more concept based than previous standardized tests.”

The PARCC exam has been implemented to meet the Common Core learning standards put in place in 2010 by the Illinois Board of Education, according to their website.  Currently there are twelve states looking into adopting the PARCC test, and fourteen districts field testing the exam this spring in Illinois, according to the PARCC website.

“The State of Illinois contracted with two organizations to create a test to the Common Core standards,” Hamilton said. “Illinois decided to contract with PARCC as a final decision.”

The PARCC exam moves toward new technology as well. The exam requires a computer, tablet, or netbook. The test will be administered by computer or tablet in school, specifically iPads in District 95.

“We chose to field test because we wanted to see if the test would work with the iPads,” Hamilton said. “We sent the State the names of all freshmen in Biology, because they already have iPads, and the state randomly selected students to take the test.”

At print time, two days of PARCC field testing have happened and so far the test has worked well with iPads.

“I actually liked taking the test on my iPad. You could hold down words you didn’t know and it would define them for you,” Kayla Pietro, a freshman who field tested the PARCC, said. “And they attached keyboards to the iPad which was kind of cool. It made it easier with the essays because you could just type it you didn’t have to think and then write.”

While field testing is underway in schools statewide, the current controversy regarding the test is that it could potentially replace the Prairie State Achievement Exam, which offers all Juniors the opportunity to take the ACT for free, as the cost of taking it on their own may be too high for families to pay for. By replacing the PSAE, the state would take away this opportunity from juniors. The other issues state officials and educators are looking at is the amount of time required for PARCC testing, with each test requiring between 5-6 hours.

The PARCC exam will also replace the ISAT at the elementary and middle school level starting in the 2014-2015 school year.