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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The PARCC tests were better than the previous state-written assessments. And now here we are, back to new and different state-written assessments.[/quote]

BS, the only issue with the state assessments was they didn't provide national comparisons.  PARCC was ill conceived and slapped together on all levels.[/quote]

Did you have anything to do with the previous MSAs? They were terrible.[/quote]

They were straightforward, and throwing the baby out with the bath water has achieved nothing.[/quote]

What baby, what bathwater? The curriculum changed, so the tests had to change. Now the curriculum isn't changing (the state isn't un-adopting the Common Core State Standards), but the tests are changing anyway.[/quote]
 
This is the comparison that was presented to parents when PARCC rolled out: [url]https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/burtonsvillees/news/Attachment%20A%20Key%20Facts.pdf[/url]
Look at the two math questions.  There's nothing about the new curriculum that makes the MSA question irrelevant.  And although we were told the PARCC question is clearly deeper and richer, it's not.  The only thing it requires is more reading comprehension.  If you actually look at the math involved, there's no grand concept, it's busy work.  Any thought put into the solution is wasted, just get do the plugging and be done.  The MSA question actually tests what the concept of remainder means in a real world scenario, maybe that's old hat, but it's not nothing.

Now of course this is making too much of a single comparison, but this is *the* sample question the PARCC people decide to release to sell their test.  School systems across the country flashed this same question up to wow parents.  No need for a postmortem, PARCC's dead, we were sold a bill of goods.[/quote]

Wow.  I think the PARCC question is deeper and richer and more likely to be what you see in the real world.  You have to set up the question first, then solve it. That said, I'm not sure whether my 4th grader could figure it out.  He could definitely figure out the MSA question though.  He can do the computation, but he can have trouble figuring out what the computation is supposed to be.  We are working on that.[/quote]

Really, in the real world would you'd bring six empty vehicles on a field trip?  And, what's wrong with asking a simple question of someone who's just learning a concept?  Is there something about doing everything at once that's superior?  Math is a tool for isolating concepts. The PARCC question is so hyper it's hard to tell there's not really much going on.

Even before the math, there's just too much going on--text, tables, pictures, a question that demands three responses. [b]Why does the bus look like a van?[/b]   Don't forth graders worry that one of the seats in the five passenger car is the driver?  Hmm, the answers work out the same whether or not you eliminate a driver from the seat count.  So the test writer thought this might be a point of confusion and they decided not to state it more clearly?  Again, that just penalizes the student who notices the ambiguity and hunts for clarification or takes time to check that drivers don't make a difference.

Don't sell your son (or yourself short), this was just garbage designed to distract.  Good riddance.[/quote]

one of the most important parts of being good at math - abstract thinking - is knowing what to ignore and what to focus on, something you seem to be struggling with.[/quote]

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