Anonymous wrote:It's actually 4 days for math (60 minutes per day) and 3 days for English/Language arts (usually 90 minutes per day except one day, which is 75 minutes). 7 total days of testing, unless your child's school is testing more than one session on a particular day (which I hope they're not, as that wouldn't be best practice).

I think it's 7 days at the ES level. It's only 6 days at MS level. Can't comment on HS.

Anonymous wrote:You can just say "no".

No, you can't. If you send your child to school between April 21-June 3, he or she will be tested.

You can just say "no".

It's the state (and some other states use the same test), at some point it's supposed to become part of the HS graduation requirement but in lower grades it's just monitoring progress. I asked what I thought was a simple question of our HS guidance counselor and was just told, you have to call the state it's their test. So at least at that level there's some resentment contributing to the confusion.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PARCC is one of the two national tests (Smarter Balanced or SBAC is the other), but states can opt out.

And for the states who choose to take this national test, it replaces the state test that have been around for quite a while. It's nothing new to have 3rd grade and up sit for a long standardized test.

Yes, they replaced the MSA with PARCC, though some kids still take MSA science test, I believe.

Anonymous wrote:PARCC is one of the two national tests (Smarter Balanced or SBAC is the other), but states can opt out.

And for the states who choose to take this national test, it replaces the state test that have been around for quite a while. It's nothing new to have 3rd grade and up sit for a long standardized test.

PARCC is one of the two national tests (Smarter Balanced or SBAC is the other), but states can opt out.

OK if anyone else is confused, this is the clearest explanation I've found.

http://understandthescore.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Parent_PARCC_Checklist.pdf

I am not sure why they think hours of testing for third graders indicates anything other than their ability to sit down and take an hours long test though. That seems like a lot for 9 year olds.

I mean they put this on the MD state website:

http://marylandpublicschools.org/msde/programs/parcc/docs/StudentAchievementInfographic.pdf

But no answer to the "What is PARCC" question. :O

Who comes up with this stuff?

Did that person take the PARCC??

Huh, well this does say the county is using parcc scores for evaluating students. I heard from multiple parents that this was not the case, so I think I am not the only one confused by this test. I'm reading.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/parcc/faqs.aspx

Anonymous wrote:No, it's not a federal test.

It's not? Is it state mandated?

From what I understand the information is not really used by the schools? So who is it used by?

What is the purpose of this test?

Why do none of the websites involved just state this information clearly without having to read through a mountain of nonsense to find it?

No, it's not a federal test.

It's actually 4 days for math (60 minutes per day) and 3 days for English/Language arts (usually 90 minutes per day except one day, which is 75 minutes). 7 total days of testing, unless your child's school is testing more than one session on a particular day (which I hope they're not, as that wouldn't be best practice).

It's 3 days for the math portion; 3 days for the English/language arts portion. But a "day" of testing isn't 8 hours. It's like 2 hours per day for 3 days for both the Math and ELA portions.

The testing will be in May. Your ES should be sending information home with the testing dates and likely the times for your grade. (They don't want kids missing school for appointments, etc.)

My 3rd grader came home saying it would be a week of testing. I've looked on the website but can't find anything about the actual time durations for these tests; anyone know how many days, how many hours per day these tests last?

I will OF COURSE ask our teacher but I'm curious what it's like countywide. I'm assuming it has to be the same because this is a federal test, isn't it?

Thanks!