BY PATRICIA KELLER
WEST MILFORD — Despite Gov. Chris Christie’s statement at the Republican presidential candidates' debate in South Carolina last month that “Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey," the State of New Jersey will continue the use of the controversial Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test as a state assessment, according to Interim Superintendent Anthony Riscica.
Riscica reported that the state’s Assessment Study Commission, put together by the governor and the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE), recommended continuing the use of the PARCC test as a state assessment, and the test will also be a requirement for high school graduation starting in the fall of 2019. Riscica said that based on findings of the Standards Review Committee put together by the governor, the governor has stated that he no longer supports common core.
The Standards Review Committee released its recommendation for proposal revisions of the standards at the state board of education meeting, creating new standards for the state that will be called the “New Jersey Student Learning Standards.” At that Jan. 11 meeting, NJDOE representatives stated that the new standards will substantially be the same as common core standards, since the state was not looking to develop a whole new set of standards, but simply to improve upon the existing ones, Riscica said.
The new state standards are essentially the same as the Common Core standards with a few minor revisions. New Jersey is considering 232 proposed changes to its 1,427 English and Mathematics academic standards, which means that only 16 percent of the standards would include revisions while 84 percent would remain the same as the current Common Core standards. Proposed revisions include such things as adjusting or moving grade-level standards to another grade level, and the clarification or addition of wording for improvement of standards.
The report recommended that the state encourage colleges in New Jersey to use PARCC scores for course placement and enrollment in dual-credit programs; as well as to share data on student progress in college courses with the state and the PARCC consortium- to evaluate the validity of the PARCC, and to help develop future tests.
PARCC testing will continue to be required for students in grades 3 through 11, although testing time for the 2015-16 school year has been cut shorter as compared to last year. The two sections, Performance-Based Assessment (PBA) and the End-of-Year Assessment (EOY), of the PARCC test were consolidated into one, and the total test time was reduced by about 90 minutes. The total testing time allotted to students will range from 8.25 hours for grade three, to 9.7 hours for grade 11.
The commission recommended that high school students be required by the state to receive a passing grade on the PARCC testing in order to graduate from high school, beginning with the 2019-2020 school year. High school students can currently use PARCC scores or results from other standardized tests, such as SATs, to meet requirements for graduation. With the new recommendations, beginning with the graduating class of 2020 (current eighth graders), students would only be allowed to use the SAT or ACT to meet graduation requirements if they scored below the required passing score on the PARCC. Then for the class of 2021, those options would be completely removed, requiring students to pass both the PARCC 10th grade Language Arts and Algebra 1 tests in order to graduate; or request a portfolio review process if they were unable to achieve a passing score on the tests.
For students in which English is a second language, a feasibility study was recommended to explore the possibility of the state accommodating those students by measuring PARCC literacy skills in the student’s own native language.
PARCC scores may not only be a requirement to graduate from high school, but could also have a direct impact on college course placements in the future, if New Jersey colleges choose to follow the commission’s recommendations.
What do you think about the state's continued use of PARCC? Go to westmilfordmessenger.com and tell us. Also check there for a Common Core timeline.