FYI for any interested ITS parents, ours arrived today.

Problem is, some of the PARCC math questions are so poorly worded that your may may have missed them because she couldn't understand the questions across the board through 5 hours worth of math questions. I suggest taking an on-line practice test, at least the math sections, to help you see this, if you haven't already.

Also, some kids tired out after answering math questions for two or three hours on a testing day, missing answers toward the end of a testing knock even if they know the material. She may even have become bored answering questions that were easy for her, causing her to become careless, since PARCC software doesn't differentiate by asking more challenging questions in response to a series of right answers, unlike the competitor Common Core-linked test, Smarter Balanced.


IMHO, when you get results, it's worth keeping in mind that the test is designed to rake in the dough for Pearson Ed shareholders and their CEO more than to test a child's knowledge of ELA or math.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I showed them to my DS 4th grader. Do kids bring up how they did in school or do they not care?

My 3rd grader cares and wanted to look at them before we did. She didn't do great (a high 3 and a low 4), but she has some attention issues, so it wasn't very surprising. Apparently, the test is not easy for everyone, even for kids who are smart. I was interested in seeing the range of scores as well as the breakdown, but the latter wasn't very informative (it only says if your kid meets or surpasses expectations or is below, so we have no idea where they are on that curve).

I agree with you about the breakdown not being very informative (I assume you mean the 4 boxes at the top of the 2nd page). I wish they broke the 4s and 5s out in there too. My daughter got high 4s in both ELA and math, but I would like to know if she got any 5s in any of the 4 areas of skills listed in those boxes. So I could tell which areas she needs more work on and doesn't. There is a large numerical range from the bottom of a score of 4 to the top end of 5.

We haven’t either. Heard my DC’s class did ok though.

^ ?

We haven’t got our kid’s scores yet. Why the diff btw schools!

So you are getting what you want?

DCPS/OSSE leadership is staunchly opposed to opting out, mainly because almost every family opting out/opposed to 10 hours of PARCC testing for 8 year olds is high SES and hence, likely to score high. City council is neutral on the issue.

Parents should know that opting out is easily done if your child had a good attendance record and you can tune out the threats. Dinging you on attendance is the only weapon the system has to try to stop those opting out.

Anonymous wrote:Can't speak for others on this thread, but when we told our DCPS ES admins that were opting out for our advanced learner, they threatened, obfuscated, cajoled and begged incessantly for a couple of weeks, a real waste of time and energy on their part. They emphasized that we were the only family opting out (bad sports that we are).

We stood firm and they quit giving on us a hard time eventually (presumably for lack of a good tool to come at a student with a perfect attendance record). In the end, they didn't even force us to keep the child home through the entire testing period, and make-up period, to opt out. She only missed testing time. I hope they simply leave other opt out families alone next time, around along with admins at other DCPS schools. Better all around.

Then push OSSE to develop an opt-out policy and if needed, get the Council to pass legislation to that effect. The states with higher opt=out percentages have that in place. DCPS is not supposed to allow you to opt out, and that's filtering down to your school.

Can't speak for others on this thread, but when we told our DCPS ES admins that were opting out for our advanced learner, they threatened, obfuscated, cajoled and begged incessantly for a couple of weeks, a real waste of time and energy on their part. They emphasized that we were the only family opting out (bad sports that we are).

We stood firm and they quit giving on us a hard time eventually (presumably for lack of a good tool to come at a student with a perfect attendance record). In the end, they didn't even force us to keep the child home through the entire testing period, and make-up period, to opt out. She only missed testing time. I hope they simply leave other opt out families alone next time, around along with admins at other DCPS schools. Better all around.

So how can your school be more sensitive to those who opt out?

The DCPS and DCPCS parents we know who await PARCC scores with baited breath, and find deep meaning in their children's results. don't know much about PARCC.

They haven't taken practice tests, don't know about Pearsons, aren't aware that every state in the PARCC Consortium a decade back has since has pulled out etc.

Ignorance is bliss.

+1. PARCC sucks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They could also be more sensitive to kids who don't test at all. Some of us opt out.

No, they shouldn’t. You want to be an anti-social freak, there are natural consequences for it. No one needs to tread lightly because of your strange choices.

Without a citizen's right to engage in peaceful acts of civil disobedience as their conscience dictates we would not live in a democracy. Personal choices need to be respected for our political system to develop and thrive.

I think it’s more like anti vaxxers.

Right, right. Anti-vaxxers whose toddlers become disease-spreading sleeper cells, vs. parents who opt out of PARCC to pressure states to clean up their act on the high stakes testing front.

Last year, so many parents opted out in Illinois, with nearly 20% of students being opted out, that the state actually ditched the poorly designed 10-hour PARCC in favor of a better crafted four-hour state test. The opt out rate in Illinois promptly plummeted this year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They could also be more sensitive to kids who don't test at all. Some of us opt out.

No, they shouldn’t. You want to be an anti-social freak, there are natural consequences for it. No one needs to tread lightly because of your strange choices.

Without a citizen's right to engage in peaceful acts of civil disobedience as their conscience dictates we would not live in a democracy. Personal choices need to be respected for our political system to develop and thrive.

I think it’s more like anti vaxxers.