PARCC results: how will they be communicated to families?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the least surprising, most depressing news we could have gotten in the first week of school. I feel deeply frustrated by the fact that many of us vocally and proactively talked about this starting in the summer of 2020 and constantly sought solutions that would prevent this from happening, and were repeatedly told to be quiet and that we were being entitled or selfish. This was inevitable and it should have been obvious to all involved when it was happening. That it wasn't is almost more alarming than the fact it happened at all.

This will all be blamed on Covid but I honestly think a lot of people should lose their jobs over this. Especially when you look at the impacts on black and Hispanic kids, and at-risk kids. We're talking 10%+ drops in proficiency across all categories and grade levels.

I also think the more people dig into the high school numbers the worse the problem will get. People on DCUM don't get it because their kids mostly do not attend the HSs in DC vaccine the biggest issues. But it's not just that scores dropped for HS students. It's that significant numbers of kids are missing altogether -- just simply do not go to school anymore and haven't since March 2020. Meaning that not only does DC have a massive drop-out/truancy issue that has worsened during the pandemic, but that these abysmal scores actually represent the performance of the kids who are most present in the schools.

We failed the kids, folks. We, the adults, failed our kids. We better come together to fix it.

I don't disagree. And I am not against focusing on standardized tests. But I can't help but thing that the results of these scores is going to be and *even more panicked PARCC prep* than in normal years. Like, it will be PARCC prep from January on instead of after Spring Break. I dunno, I wish they would also focus on other things that could address the gap, like making sure that all kids get phonics instruction and a solid math curriculum.

Or maybe DC will just drop PARCC like every other state in the US already has.

And do you think the score would be different if they administered a different test? When will you finally get it? If it's not PARCC it'll be something else and the scores will still be the same and the rankings won't change.

Any other test would take fewer days to administer, meaning more time to actually teach. So there’s that.

If you think the problem is the extra 2 days to take PARCC then you must not have a kid in school. Between PJ days, movie days, equity days, days preceding school vacations and all manner of days that aren't fully utilized there's simply no rational argument that the extra days of PARC vs another test are materially related to performance.

Are you stating we should take all the fun out of elementary school and start instruction day 1? Because I’m sure doing those things will definitely raise the scores. 🙄

They aren’t saying that school should resemble something out of a Dickens novel. But a re-examination of how time is used and what activities could be crowding out other activities that might, say, address the massive gaps in math, is not some crazy idea. Then there are things like having Election Day off last year when there was no election, then two other days off that week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the least surprising, most depressing news we could have gotten in the first week of school. I feel deeply frustrated by the fact that many of us vocally and proactively talked about this starting in the summer of 2020 and constantly sought solutions that would prevent this from happening, and were repeatedly told to be quiet and that we were being entitled or selfish. This was inevitable and it should have been obvious to all involved when it was happening. That it wasn't is almost more alarming than the fact it happened at all.

This will all be blamed on Covid but I honestly think a lot of people should lose their jobs over this. Especially when you look at the impacts on black and Hispanic kids, and at-risk kids. We're talking 10%+ drops in proficiency across all categories and grade levels.

I also think the more people dig into the high school numbers the worse the problem will get. People on DCUM don't get it because their kids mostly do not attend the HSs in DC vaccine the biggest issues. But it's not just that scores dropped for HS students. It's that significant numbers of kids are missing altogether -- just simply do not go to school anymore and haven't since March 2020. Meaning that not only does DC have a massive drop-out/truancy issue that has worsened during the pandemic, but that these abysmal scores actually represent the performance of the kids who are most present in the schools.

We failed the kids, folks. We, the adults, failed our kids. We better come together to fix it.

I don't disagree. And I am not against focusing on standardized tests. But I can't help but thing that the results of these scores is going to be and *even more panicked PARCC prep* than in normal years. Like, it will be PARCC prep from January on instead of after Spring Break. I dunno, I wish they would also focus on other things that could address the gap, like making sure that all kids get phonics instruction and a solid math curriculum.

Or maybe DC will just drop PARCC like every other state in the US already has.

And do you think the score would be different if they administered a different test? When will you finally get it? If it's not PARCC it'll be something else and the scores will still be the same and the rankings won't change.

Any other test would take fewer days to administer, meaning more time to actually teach. So there’s that.

If you think the problem is the extra 2 days to take PARCC then you must not have a kid in school. Between PJ days, movie days, equity days, days preceding school vacations and all manner of days that aren't fully utilized there's simply no rational argument that the extra days of PARC vs another test are materially related to performance.

Are you stating we should take all the fun out of elementary school and start instruction day 1? Because I’m sure doing those things will definitely raise the scores. 🙄

They aren’t saying that school should resemble something out of a Dickens novel. But a re-examination of how time is used and what activities could be crowding out other activities that might, say, address the massive gaps in math, is not some crazy idea. Then there are things like having Election Day off last year when there was no election, then two other days off that week.

There are 180 days of school. Having Election Day off meant that we still have 180 days of school. If we had Election Day as a school day we still would have had 180 days of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the least surprising, most depressing news we could have gotten in the first week of school. I feel deeply frustrated by the fact that many of us vocally and proactively talked about this starting in the summer of 2020 and constantly sought solutions that would prevent this from happening, and were repeatedly told to be quiet and that we were being entitled or selfish. This was inevitable and it should have been obvious to all involved when it was happening. That it wasn't is almost more alarming than the fact it happened at all.

This will all be blamed on Covid but I honestly think a lot of people should lose their jobs over this. Especially when you look at the impacts on black and Hispanic kids, and at-risk kids. We're talking 10%+ drops in proficiency across all categories and grade levels.

I also think the more people dig into the high school numbers the worse the problem will get. People on DCUM don't get it because their kids mostly do not attend the HSs in DC vaccine the biggest issues. But it's not just that scores dropped for HS students. It's that significant numbers of kids are missing altogether -- just simply do not go to school anymore and haven't since March 2020. Meaning that not only does DC have a massive drop-out/truancy issue that has worsened during the pandemic, but that these abysmal scores actually represent the performance of the kids who are most present in the schools.

We failed the kids, folks. We, the adults, failed our kids. We better come together to fix it.

I don't disagree. And I am not against focusing on standardized tests. But I can't help but thing that the results of these scores is going to be and *even more panicked PARCC prep* than in normal years. Like, it will be PARCC prep from January on instead of after Spring Break. I dunno, I wish they would also focus on other things that could address the gap, like making sure that all kids get phonics instruction and a solid math curriculum.

Or maybe DC will just drop PARCC like every other state in the US already has.

And do you think the score would be different if they administered a different test? When will you finally get it? If it's not PARCC it'll be something else and the scores will still be the same and the rankings won't change.

Any other test would take fewer days to administer, meaning more time to actually teach. So there’s that.

If you think the problem is the extra 2 days to take PARCC then you must not have a kid in school. Between PJ days, movie days, equity days, days preceding school vacations and all manner of days that aren't fully utilized there's simply no rational argument that the extra days of PARC vs another test are materially related to performance.

Are you stating we should take all the fun out of elementary school and start instruction day 1? Because I’m sure doing those things will definitely raise the scores. 🙄

They aren’t saying that school should resemble something out of a Dickens novel. But a re-examination of how time is used and what activities could be crowding out other activities that might, say, address the massive gaps in math, is not some crazy idea. Then there are things like having Election Day off last year when there was no election, then two other days off that week.

There are 180 days of school. Having Election Day off meant that we still have 180 days of school. If we had Election Day as a school day we still would have had 180 days of school.

It’s the continuity and disruption. See also the dumb inclement weather days. Sure they are made up on the back end, but those are more often than not movie days.

[Anonymous]

"how to make friends, how to be resiliant, how to listen, how to be patient" is very important. i also extremely dislike the conservative narrative that it is all parent(s), that schools are only for academics, and that there should be no community support for kids and families. but it is clear to me that the poster who said social skills first almost definitely has an earlier elementary school aged child. for upper elementary, you have to teach both academic and social skills in parallel and you cannot put the academic learning beneath other interests and consider that acceptable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://twitter.com/stephtaitwrites/status/1565820444846227456?s=21&t=kDVUN65iyFwCkh8wZN0V4w


Interesting. This woman compared states who had the highest percentage of inperson school to states with the lowest percent of inperson school. The results aren’t what you think.

Interesting. I think the pandemic created a lot of stress on families regardless of schools being remote or in-person. Familial stress is very hard on kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://twitter.com/stephtaitwrites/status/1565820444846227456?s=21&t=kDVUN65iyFwCkh8wZN0V4w


Interesting. This woman compared states who had the highest percentage of inperson school to states with the lowest percent of inperson school. The results aren’t what you think.

Did this person learn data analysis via remote school in 2020? Because that’s not how you do it.

You can’t just say: schools in “the South” reopened sooner and they saw significant learning loss, ergo the learning loss was not caused by closures. You aren’t accounting for a ton of variables, like SES, the conditions under which schools reopened, etc.

It’s also very likely that the learning loss we are seeing has multiple causes. School closures are an obvious one and I think it would be silly to ignore them as a cause. But there’s also the fact that many kids experienced massive familial disruptions during the pandemic, from losing loved ones to Covid to parents who lost their jobs, to marital issues and domestic violence made worse by social isolation. Of course this all has an impact, and the impact is likely greater on children who were already designated at risk.

But school closures also likely compounded those issues. If you are a child who has lost a parent or other family member to illness, not having school to go to can deprive you of a needed break from you grief. If you are a child in an unhappy or violent home, this is even more true. If you are simply experiencing higher stress levels during the pandemic, the routines of school and the presence of caring adults and friends, can ease that stress.

I’m sorry, but anyone trying to tell me that school closures had no impact on kids, or were even good for them, is not credible. Some badly done data analysis at the regional level with no controls is not persuasive.

My kid loved distance learning and probably learned more at home than at school. But certainly agree that was unusual and far from the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://twitter.com/stephtaitwrites/status/1565820444846227456?s=21&t=kDVUN65iyFwCkh8wZN0V4w


Interesting. This woman compared states who had the highest percentage of inperson school to states with the lowest percent of inperson school. The results aren’t what you think.

Did this person learn data analysis via remote school in 2020? Because that’s not how you do it.

You can’t just say: schools in “the South” reopened sooner and they saw significant learning loss, ergo the learning loss was not caused by closures. You aren’t accounting for a ton of variables, like SES, the conditions under which schools reopened, etc.

It’s also very likely that the learning loss we are seeing has multiple causes. School closures are an obvious one and I think it would be silly to ignore them as a cause. But there’s also the fact that many kids experienced massive familial disruptions during the pandemic, from losing loved ones to Covid to parents who lost their jobs, to marital issues and domestic violence made worse by social isolation. Of course this all has an impact, and the impact is likely greater on children who were already designated at risk.

But school closures also likely compounded those issues. If you are a child who has lost a parent or other family member to illness, not having school to go to can deprive you of a needed break from you grief. If you are a child in an unhappy or violent home, this is even more true. If you are simply experiencing higher stress levels during the pandemic, the routines of school and the presence of caring adults and friends, can ease that stress.

I’m sorry, but anyone trying to tell me that school closures had no impact on kids, or were even good for them, is not credible. Some badly done data analysis at the regional level with no controls is not persuasive.

NP. You’ve formed your opinion and would refute any data if it ran counter to your belief that school closures were bad. As with everything in life, it was probably nuanced and complicated. But hey, stick with your opinion and write your screeds. It wouldn’t be DCUM DCPS forum without you constantly flaming school closures, WTU, and masks.

[Anonymous]

The PARCC scores are a reminder that the schools closures were what ever the OPPOSITE of standing up for the marginalized is.

[Anonymous]

You simply cannot look at the PARCC scores and suggest that school closures were good for most kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The PARCC scores are a reminder that the schools closures were what ever the OPPOSITE of standing up for the marginalized is.

I see you haven’t read this thread yet:

https://twitter.com/stephtaitwrites/status/1565820444846227456?s=21&t=kDVUN65iyFwCkh8wZN0V4w

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You simply cannot look at the PARCC scores and suggest that school closures were good for most kids.

https://twitter.com/stephtaitwrites/status/1565820444846227456?s=21&t=kDVUN65iyFwCkh8wZN0V4w

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PARCC scores are a reminder that the schools closures were what ever the OPPOSITE of standing up for the marginalized is.

I see you haven’t read this thread yet:

https://twitter.com/stephtaitwrites/status/1565820444846227456?s=21&t=kDVUN65iyFwCkh8wZN0V4w

oh yes, that definitively proves school closures were harmless.

someone should analyze the data in DC by race and school reopening times. I’m positive it will show black kids lost more ground more quickly, and that they had fewer days in school.

[Anonymous]

Rather than twitter analysis, I'll go with peer-review published research:

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2022376118
"We use a natural experiment that occurred as national examinations in The Netherlands took place before and after lockdown to evaluate the impact of school closures on students’ learning. The Netherlands is interesting as a “best-case” scenario, with a short lockdown, equitable school funding, and world-leading rates of broadband access. Despite favorable conditions, we find that students made little or no progress while learning from home. Learning loss was most pronounced among students from disadvantaged homes."

Or maybe World Bank analysis reviewing multiple studies:

https://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/covid-19-school-closures-fueled-big-learning-losses-especially-disadvantaged
"Online education is an imperfect substitute for in-person learning, particularly for children from low-income families. Early systematic reviews based on limited data from high-income countries suggest large learning losses and increased learning inequality."

Or this research from Harvard cited by NPR:
https://www.npr.org/2022/06/22/1105970186/pandemic-learning-loss-findings
"Even students who spent the least amount of time learning remotely during the 2020-21 school year — just a month or less — missed the equivalent of seven to 10 weeks of math learning, says Thomas Kane of the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PARCC scores are a reminder that the schools closures were what ever the OPPOSITE of standing up for the marginalized is.

I see you haven’t read this thread yet:

https://twitter.com/stephtaitwrites/status/1565820444846227456?s=21&t=kDVUN65iyFwCkh8wZN0V4w

LOL. The scores dropped at the same time the schools were closed. And you'd like to say that's good?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the least surprising, most depressing news we could have gotten in the first week of school. I feel deeply frustrated by the fact that many of us vocally and proactively talked about this starting in the summer of 2020 and constantly sought solutions that would prevent this from happening, and were repeatedly told to be quiet and that we were being entitled or selfish. This was inevitable and it should have been obvious to all involved when it was happening. That it wasn't is almost more alarming than the fact it happened at all.

This will all be blamed on Covid but I honestly think a lot of people should lose their jobs over this. Especially when you look at the impacts on black and Hispanic kids, and at-risk kids. We're talking 10%+ drops in proficiency across all categories and grade levels.

I also think the more people dig into the high school numbers the worse the problem will get. People on DCUM don't get it because their kids mostly do not attend the HSs in DC vaccine the biggest issues. But it's not just that scores dropped for HS students. It's that significant numbers of kids are missing altogether -- just simply do not go to school anymore and haven't since March 2020. Meaning that not only does DC have a massive drop-out/truancy issue that has worsened during the pandemic, but that these abysmal scores actually represent the performance of the kids who are most present in the schools.

We failed the kids, folks. We, the adults, failed our kids. We better come together to fix it.

I don't disagree. And I am not against focusing on standardized tests. But I can't help but thing that the results of these scores is going to be and *even more panicked PARCC prep* than in normal years. Like, it will be PARCC prep from January on instead of after Spring Break. I dunno, I wish they would also focus on other things that could address the gap, like making sure that all kids get phonics instruction and a solid math curriculum.

Or maybe DC will just drop PARCC like every other state in the US already has.

And do you think the score would be different if they administered a different test? When will you finally get it? If it's not PARCC it'll be something else and the scores will still be the same and the rankings won't change.

Any other test would take fewer days to administer, meaning more time to actually teach. So there’s that.

If you think the problem is the extra 2 days to take PARCC then you must not have a kid in school. Between PJ days, movie days, equity days, days preceding school vacations and all manner of days that aren't fully utilized there's simply no rational argument that the extra days of PARC vs another test are materially related to performance.

Are you stating we should take all the fun out of elementary school and start instruction day 1? Because I’m sure doing those things will definitely raise the scores. 🙄

Me thinks you would not get a 4 or 5 on the PARCC ELA. I was replying to the person who suggested that the length of PARCC was somehow contributing to poor scores because the test was multiple days long. My point was that the extra 2 or 3 days is nothing in comparison to the wasted days throughout.