PARCC Test Crashed Yesterday

[Anonymous]

Ugg. My child sat out of class for 2 days while other children took the MSA's for English. His class was selected to be part of the PARCC test group so he will not have scores for English this year. To me it seems since he was only sitting in the cafeteria for the MSAs, he should have taken the test to get the yearly update in his progress. What educational benefit does sitting in the cafeteria for two hours over two days provide? None.

Moving forward, he was scheduled to take the PARCC test yesterday and midway through the computer program, the system crashed and all data was lost. He now is scheduled to re-take the PARCC assessments on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week (while the other kids in his gradel sit in the cafeteria).

Why is so much educational time wasted to develop a new test?

Shouldn't the programming errors been tweaked out before a mass trial?

Is Pearson Publishing inept in the programing for the test?

Doesn't this raise the issue that probably paper assessments are better because they don't crash while children across the county are taking them?

Crazy MCPS - they seem to be more interested in test development than actually teaching the kids.

[Anonymous]

I didn't realize that individual children were selected to take the test. My understanding was that an entire class would be selected to take the test --- so in theory that class could still be receiving regular school instruction while everyone else was taking the MSAs, but it doesn't sound like that's what actually happened.

[Anonymous]

Parents need to protest this B.S. Our kids are Pearson Education guinea pigs. Honestly, these are our kids and there are days and days wasted testing out a new test (at the expense of educational days and…actual learning).

All this hand ringing about making up snow days well into June. How 'bout we just skip all these wasted test days.

[Anonymous]

My child took the PARCC math. Fourth grade. Said material hadn't been covered and was horrible. He is in compacted math and at an HGC and couldn't finish. Said MSA is super easy compared to PARCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize that individual children were selected to take the test. My understanding was that an entire class would be selected to take the test --- so in theory that class could still be receiving regular school instruction while everyone else was taking the MSAs, but it doesn't sound like that's what actually happened.

My Elementary school son was in a self contained class that did not take the MSA. He received instruction while other classes took the MSA.

My Middle School son lost instruction time. The MSA test periods was for 2 hours. Middle School students switch classes every 50 minutes so it would be hard to separate kids taking different tests on different days to continue instruction. Now, if the PARCC could have been done on the same days as the MSA's, then less academic time would have been lost.

BTW - just relooked at the letter that came home from the Middle School. It just says that due to the computer glitch, the PARCC would resume on Wednesday. It does not say when the test will conclude. Originally it was scheduled to be a 3 day test. However, Friday is a Professional Day so students cannot take a test that day. As a parent, I don't know if the kids will be taking the PARCC test on Thursday or Monday or if the test will conclude on Wednesday as originally scheduled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to protest this B.S. Our kids are Pearson Education guinea pigs. Honestly, these are our kids and there are days and days wasted testing out a new test (at the expense of educational days and…actual learning).

All this hand wringing about making up snow days well into June. How 'bout we just skip all these wasted test days.

How do you test a new test without having people take the test to test it? Somebody has to be the guinea pig. Why not your kid? (Or my kid.)

[Anonymous]

Principals can't excuse your child from taking Parc--the only way to avoid it is to show up late the day of the test or stay home. Our school had a ton of "crashes" too. It is definitely guinea pig time....

[Anonymous]

My school is taking the paper version of the test next week to avoid computer problems. As a teacher myself. I think both the MSA and the trial PARCC are a waste of time this year. The MSA covered the old standards that were not taught this year. So teachers had to go back teaching some of the old standards to prepare them for that. Now my class and other class are getting ready to take the Reading PARCC since we were randomly chosen. Classes were chosen not students. The students will not get the scores for this test since it's being used to figure out how to give the test for next year which is why I think it is a waste of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My school is taking the paper version of the test next week to avoid computer problems. As a teacher myself. I think both the MSA and the trial PARCC are a waste of time this year. The MSA covered the old standards that were not taught this year. So teachers had to go back teaching some of the old standards to prepare them for that. Now my class and other class are getting ready to take the Reading PARCC since we were randomly chosen. Classes were chosen not students. The students will not get the scores for this test since it's being used to figure out how to give the test for next year which is why I think it is a waste of time.

How would you test the test, and establish the norms for the test, without having people take it?

Or do you think it's better to use an untested test?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Principals can't excuse your child from taking Parc--the only way to avoid it is to show up late the day of the test or stay home. Our school had a ton of "crashes" too. It is definitely guinea pig time....

As a teacher responsible for overseeing testing, I can say that this is incorrect--you would have to keep your child home for the entire 3 week testing window (yesterday through April 11) in order to "avoid it". We have to makeup absent students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents need to protest this B.S. Our kids are Pearson Education guinea pigs. Honestly, these are our kids and there are days and days wasted testing out a new test (at the expense of educational days and…actual learning).

All this hand ringing about making up snow days well into June. How 'bout we just skip all these wasted test days.

I don't agree at all.

My daughter's class is piloting the test. She complete day two. We discussed the tests b/c I wanted to hear answers. They are not easy tests, people. They mirror AP level tests - same thinking skills are assessed.

So while there are kinks to iron out (Quite frankly I don't know how schools will have the capability of testing all kids with one media center, for example, or with outdated technology.), I am glad the kids are expected to think at a higher level. The MSAs and HSAs (high school) are jokes compared to PARCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My school is taking the paper version of the test next week to avoid computer problems. As a teacher myself. I think both the MSA and the trial PARCC are a waste of time this year. The MSA covered the old standards that were not taught this year. So teachers had to go back teaching some of the old standards to prepare them for that. Now my class and other class are getting ready to take the Reading PARCC since we were randomly chosen. Classes were chosen not students. The students will not get the scores for this test since it's being used to figure out how to give the test for next year which is why I think it is a waste of time.

So genius. . . as a teacher (I'm one.), how do you EXPECT to test validity and reliability? by assessing monkeys?

Is it any wonder the public hates us?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My school is taking the paper version of the test next week to avoid computer problems. As a teacher myself. I think both the MSA and the trial PARCC are a waste of time this year. The MSA covered the old standards that were not taught this year. So teachers had to go back teaching some of the old standards to prepare them for that. Now my class and other class are getting ready to take the Reading PARCC since we were randomly chosen. Classes were chosen not students. The students will not get the scores for this test since it's being used to figure out how to give the test for next year which is why I think it is a waste of time.

So genius. . . as a teacher (I'm one.), how do you EXPECT to test validity and reliability? by assessing monkeys?

Is it any wonder the public hates us?

^^^ You got to love the tone above. I hope this teacher is more pleasant to students than the disrespect blurted out on an anonymous public forum.

Any how, don't respected tests and curriculums normally get developed in stages at an institution of higher learning that is conducting the research. Small test samples on test volunteers are done before trying to steam role out a large program. MCPS is trying to gear up a new program across multiple grades without even ensuring the technology is ready for the role out. Sure this week was a practice but the practice failed. Now what is MCPS's plan before the entire student population has to take these tests for real assessments.

I am also worried that this rush to move to computerized testing ignores research that shows that some kids will not perform at their best because of the computer format vs. a paper and pencil format. A child at first needs to familiarize himself/herself with the program if the computer program is new. An assessment is not the time to learn/play with new technology. Also the screen format is notorious for encouraging answer impulsivity and discourages the reviewing and checking of answers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child took the PARCC math. Fourth grade. Said material hadn't been covered and was horrible. He is in compacted math and at an HGC and couldn't finish. Said MSA is super easy compared to PARCC.

+1 My HGC fourth grader said it was harder than MSA as well. And he was extremely upset at a particular question that covered material they hadn't learned yet. He felt better today after realizing that a bunch of his classmates had difficulty with the same problem, but last night was not fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child took the PARCC math. Fourth grade. Said material hadn't been covered and was horrible. He is in compacted math and at an HGC and couldn't finish. Said MSA is super easy compared to PARCC.

+1 My HGC fourth grader said it was harder than MSA as well. And he was extremely upset at a particular question that covered material they hadn't learned yet. He felt better today after realizing that a bunch of his classmates had difficulty with the same problem, but last night was not fun.

I will have to follow up with him to see if he discussed it with classmates today. I am sure it would make him feel better too.