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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The Reading part of PARCC is BS. It isn't testing content because content varies from district to district. It tests reading comprehension. Reading comprehension is mostly based on background knowledge of the topic. So if the passage is about something the student is familiar with, he/she will test higher. If the passage is unfamiliar, the score will be lower. So children with parents who have higher educational levels tend to do better on these tests because of their background knowledge that they may have learned outside of school. If the content was standardized and the test actually tested that content, it would make more sense. Look at some of the public release samples to get an idea how the test jumps from one random passage to another. There might be one non-fiction passage on sea turtles and one narrative about summer camp. If you haven't studied sea turtles, chances are poor kids will do worse on this section. They might not even know what the world "sea" means. Kids from higher SES backgrounds might have read about sea turtles from books in the library, might have gone to aquariums, might have gone on a trip to the ocean. My son knows about them from camp. The students I teach in my Title One school don't go to camp. The don't go to the library. They don't do anything over the summer. So the test is a random bunch of passages testing reading comprehension and not content. So teachers at my school get blasted for low test scores when the reason most students know about these passages is from outside of school.[/quote]
I thought PARCC was supposed to measure the kinds of things the PISA test measures (conceptual understanding and critical thinking).  
I suppose I would also imagine that the children you describe who don't read or "do anything" over the summer are unlikely to be very successful in any test.  
I wonder if it would be possible to send donated books home with children over the summer or offer free summer art classes etc.
It does make you think that there is only so much any school system or school admin or individual teacher can accomplish without parental involvement[/quote]

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