PARCC results: how will they be communicated to families?

[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. 🙄

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.

I am the person to whom you were responding, and your analysis is off. I was not saying that 2 more days to teach would measurably improve scores.

I just see any days spent testing beyond what is necessary as a waste of time. Every other state and all states pre-PARCC thinks shorter tests are enough. I’d rather the kids do something, anything, other than waste time on excess standardized tests.

[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. 🙄

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.

I am the person to whom you were responding, and your analysis is off. I was not saying that 2 more days to teach would measurably improve scores.

I just see any days spent testing beyond what is necessary as a waste of time. Every other state and all states pre-PARCC thinks shorter tests are enough. I’d rather the kids do something, anything, other than waste time on excess standardized tests.

I may be misunderstanding your reply, but it sounds like you present a false choice: either spend time focuses on the test of get bad results and worry about larger issue. BASIS does PARCC in like 2 days and moves on. Their scores are better than [insert name of your school here]. Maybe the point is that prepping only for PARCC instead of having a rigorous curriculum and standards is a better use of time than just working to get test results.

No matter what test is used, many schools are going to try to work the test as a way to mask over gaps. I don't know any way around that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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. 🙄

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.

I am the person to whom you were responding, and your analysis is off. I was not saying that 2 more days to teach would measurably improve scores.

I just see any days spent testing beyond what is necessary as a waste of time. Every other state and all states pre-PARCC thinks shorter tests are enough. I’d rather the kids do something, anything, other than waste time on excess standardized tests.

I may be misunderstanding your reply, but it sounds like you present a false choice: either spend time focuses on the test of get bad results and worry about larger issue. BASIS does PARCC in like 2 days and moves on. Their scores are better than [insert name of your school here]. Maybe the point is that prepping only for PARCC instead of having a rigorous curriculum and standards is a better use of time than just working to get test results.

No matter what test is used, many schools are going to try to work the test as a way to mask over gaps. I don't know any way around that.

Basis is the *only* school doing PARCC in 2-3 days. If more schools did that, great. Either way, PARCC requires more hours of testing than alternative tests.

[Anonymous]

I’m not necessarily opposed to PARCC but I find offensive the number of standardized tests my DS takes throughout the year. What is the point of all of that and why are there so many different ones?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not necessarily opposed to PARCC but I find offensive the number of standardized tests my DS takes throughout the year. What is the point of all of that and why are there so many different ones?

I agree. I hate to toot BASIS's horn again, but...Next week is FastBridge. They sent the entire a school a detailed email telling us what it is, why they use it, what it tells them and the action items that will come from it. If schools are going give tests there should be a reason and deliverable. Otherwise it is just more wasted time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not necessarily opposed to PARCC but I find offensive the number of standardized tests my DS takes throughout the year. What is the point of all of that and why are there so many different ones?

I agree. I hate to toot BASIS's horn again, but...Next week is FastBridge. They sent the entire a school a detailed email telling us what it is, why they use it, what it tells them and the action items that will come from it. If schools are going give tests there should be a reason and deliverable. Otherwise it is just more wasted time.

Fall FastBridge Testing September 6th-9th

From September 6th through September 9th, all BASIS DC students will take the 1st administration of the FASTBRIDGE Learning Assessment. The FASTBRIDGE Learning assessment will happen during the normal school day.

5th grade: Friday September 9th, P7-P8
6th grade: Thursday, September 8th, P1-P2
7th grade: Wednesday, September 7th, P7-P8
8th grade: Wednesday, September 7th, P1-P2
9th-11th grade: Tuesday, September 6th, P1-P2
12th grade: Wednesday, September 7th, P1-P2


If your student misses the Fastbridge Assessment due to being absent, they will take a make-up test upon their return.

FAST (Formative Assessment System for Teachers), is the school's universal screen, and a diagnostic assessment that combines Curriculum-Based Measures (CBM), and Computer-Adaptive Tests (CAT) for reading, math, and social-emotional behavior. It delivers accurate, actionable reports that look at student performance in comparison to same class, grade, school, district, and nationwide.

The test does this in half of the time as other assessments, thus students spend less time testing, and more time receiving data-driven instruction. The data from this assessment helps teachers to provide all students with additional supports inside of the class, and helps the Student Support Services Team to provide both academic and social emotional interventions that are needed outside of the classroom.

The primary focus of FAST is to determine if our students are performing on grade level. The needs of these students are identified, and the Student Interventions Team uses this data, along with other student data, to identify any below grade level math and/or reading skills. Once these skills are identified, students are placed into small intervention groups that are designed to help students identify, strengthen, and apply concepts in math and/or reading. Students who participate in intervention groups also take regular progress monitoring assessments to measure growth. These assessments are very short, and are given frequently so the interventionist can create lessons to meet student needs.

Another focus of FAST is to determine if our students are at risk for social and emotional behaviors. The needs of these students are identified and the Student Support Services team will work with each student to address their social-emotional learning needs.


If you have questions about this Universal Screener, your child’s performance on FAST, screening scores, or progress monitoring results, please contact _____________________________.

We look forward to continuing to work with you to ensure all of our students reach their academic potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not necessarily opposed to PARCC but I find offensive the number of standardized tests my DS takes throughout the year. What is the point of all of that and why are there so many different ones?

I agree. I hate to toot BASIS's horn again, but...Next week is FastBridge. They sent the entire a school a detailed email telling us what it is, why they use it, what it tells them and the action items that will come from it. If schools are going give tests there should be a reason and deliverable. Otherwise it is just more wasted time.

Fall FastBridge Testing September 6th-9th

From September 6th through September 9th, all BASIS DC students will take the 1st administration of the FASTBRIDGE Learning Assessment. The FASTBRIDGE Learning assessment will happen during the normal school day.

5th grade: Friday September 9th, P7-P8
6th grade: Thursday, September 8th, P1-P2
7th grade: Wednesday, September 7th, P7-P8
8th grade: Wednesday, September 7th, P1-P2
9th-11th grade: Tuesday, September 6th, P1-P2
12th grade: Wednesday, September 7th, P1-P2


If your student misses the Fastbridge Assessment due to being absent, they will take a make-up test upon their return.

FAST (Formative Assessment System for Teachers), is the school's universal screen, and a diagnostic assessment that combines Curriculum-Based Measures (CBM), and Computer-Adaptive Tests (CAT) for reading, math, and social-emotional behavior. It delivers accurate, actionable reports that look at student performance in comparison to same class, grade, school, district, and nationwide.

The test does this in half of the time as other assessments, thus students spend less time testing, and more time receiving data-driven instruction. The data from this assessment helps teachers to provide all students with additional supports inside of the class, and helps the Student Support Services Team to provide both academic and social emotional interventions that are needed outside of the classroom.

The primary focus of FAST is to determine if our students are performing on grade level. The needs of these students are identified, and the Student Interventions Team uses this data, along with other student data, to identify any below grade level math and/or reading skills. Once these skills are identified, students are placed into small intervention groups that are designed to help students identify, strengthen, and apply concepts in math and/or reading. Students who participate in intervention groups also take regular progress monitoring assessments to measure growth. These assessments are very short, and are given frequently so the interventionist can create lessons to meet student needs.

Another focus of FAST is to determine if our students are at risk for social and emotional behaviors. The needs of these students are identified and the Student Support Services team will work with each student to address their social-emotional learning needs.


If you have questions about this Universal Screener, your child’s performance on FAST, screening scores, or progress monitoring results, please contact _____________________________.

We look forward to continuing to work with you to ensure all of our students reach their academic potential.

Wow, that's great. Kudos to BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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. 🙄

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.

I am the person to whom you were responding, and your analysis is off. I was not saying that 2 more days to teach would measurably improve scores.

I just see any days spent testing beyond what is necessary as a waste of time. Every other state and all states pre-PARCC thinks shorter tests are enough. I’d rather the kids do something, anything, other than waste time on excess standardized tests.

I may be misunderstanding your reply, but it sounds like you present a false choice: either spend time focuses on the test of get bad results and worry about larger issue. BASIS does PARCC in like 2 days and moves on. Their scores are better than [insert name of your school here]. Maybe the point is that prepping only for PARCC instead of having a rigorous curriculum and standards is a better use of time than just working to get test results.

No matter what test is used, many schools are going to try to work the test as a way to mask over gaps. I don't know any way around that.

Oh wow Basis, what a great example! A non title 1 school with a less than 7% at risk student population, 4% students with disabilities and 1% ELL. Oh how hard it must be to teach students already at grade level, with significantly less trauma, and less need for differentiation in teaching.

Quadruple their at risk, disabilities, and ELL students then tell me how good Basis is. Some parents who aren’t teachers make me laugh because they really think these scores mean something for children whose native language is English, neurotypical,have a negligible ACE score, and are privileged (and I do not mean white).

And no, people are not against standardized testing to ‘cover up’ anything. It’s quite obvious what kinds of children do better. I am against the money being spent on this crap. Use this money to get more staff, and better training, especially for those who aren’t reaching their students. And for some parent trainings, some of these parents are having a difficult time and it makes their children more difficult to teach.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, nice boosting, but I don't need every mom I know to know exactly what day my BASIS middle schooler kid is undergoing academic assessment.

[Anonymous]

PP was pointing out that not only does BASIS compress the PARCC into a couple of days (unlike every other school in DC) but it also does additional, shorter, and more effective standardized testing.

Other schools/DCPS should be looking at this model.

[Anonymous]

To answer the question of how students will get their scores, ours sent out a communication with the timing and the follow up steps that will come with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, nice boosting, but I don't need every mom I know to know exactly what day my BASIS middle schooler kid is undergoing academic assessment.

You seem nice...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, nice boosting, but I don't need every mom I know to know exactly what day my BASIS middle schooler kid is undergoing academic assessment.

Why does it matter if other moms know when assessments are occurring? Genuinely confused as to what the issue is.

[Anonymous]

she just cut and pasted the whole email...just ignore the dates...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, nice boosting, but I don't need every mom I know to know exactly what day my BASIS middle schooler kid is undergoing academic assessment.

Why does it matter if other moms know when assessments are occurring? Genuinely confused as to what the issue is.

Privacy is in the eye of the beholder.