Students in the Evesham Township School District who refuse, or whose parents refuse on their behalf, to take the upcoming Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test will remain at their seat reading or working on reader’s workshop while their peers take the test.
That was the word of district Superintendent John Scavelli Jr. at the Jan. 22 meeting of the ETSD Board of Education.
Scavelli explained the policy to parent Lisa Marie Fuchs during the public comment portion of the meeting when Fuchs asked Scavelli what would happen to students, such as her fourth-grade daughter at Marlton Elementary School, whose parents would not let them take the test.
Fuchs also asked if students not taking the test could be moved to a different area, but Scavelli said it was a requirement of the test that all students of a particular grade and class present during a test day, those taking the test and those not, must still be in the room.
Later this year, the PARCC test will be replacing the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge test as the state standardized assessment for mathematics and English language arts.
The test is a result of a group of 20 states, including New Jersey, that originally banded together to develop a common set of K-12 assessments in mathematics and English language arts with the goal of preparing students for what they need to be successful in a career or college beyond the high school level.
Although several states have since opted not to implement the PARCC assessment, New Jersey is scheduled to have students take the test later this year.
As opposed to NJASK, PARCC will be scheduled in such a way that each student in grades three through eight will take a performance-based assessment in March and an end-of-year assessment in May, and all classes will not take the test at the same time, resulting in schools muddying their regular schedules to accommodate the tests.
That was just one of the reasons Fuchs said she was against the test, as well as a belief that the test won’t be developmentally and academically appropriate for the grades taking the test and concerns about the computer operating system used for the test.
Another component of the PARCC test is students will take the test entirely on a computer.
“It is taking away from instructional time, and there’s nothing that this test can tell me that I, my husband or my daughter don’t already know,” Fuchs said. “My daughter actually said to me ‘what is the purpose of this test?’ and I said ‘I don’t know’ because they’re not giving us any information.”
Parent Mike Shannon, who also will not allow his child to take the test, said he was also concerned about the security of the test regarding the students’ information since the test will be taken on a computer.
“I mean, all you have to do is look at Target and Home Depot and the hundreds and thousands and millions of people where their data has been compromised,” Shannon said. “This is the same thing…we don’t know if it’s going to be sold to third parties, we just don’t know anything about it.”
In response to Fuchs’ and Shannon’s concerns, and the potential concerns of any parent in the district, Scavelli also announced that in February parents would receive letters containing the date of a PARCC-Parent Information night to be held at their student’s particular school where the school principal, guidance counselor, math coach and school reading specialist will present information regarding the common core standards and the PARCC assessment.
Board member Trish Everhart said she had seen an early version of the presentation and was hopeful it would alleviate some of the “concerns, fears and questions” parents might have.
“If you have the opportunity to attend any of those PARCC parent meetings, I would do so, because it is just a wealth of information on that presentation, and I think you guys will feel much better once you go,” she said.
The next regular meeting of the ETSD BOE is currently scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 26.
