School Districts Preparing Plans To Curb PARCC Refusals

TOMS RIVER, NJ -- Parents who are planning to refuse to have their children take the PARCC tests this year may be in for a fight, as school districts across the state are preparing corrective action plans to improve testing rates.

The corrective action plans have come to light in recent days as school boards across the state have had to approve ESEA corrective action plans at recent school board meetings.

Among those approving corrective plans this week were the Toms River Regional School District and the Central Regional School District in Bayville. Plans also appear to hve been put into place in towns such as Westfield, Mount Olive and Cinnaminson, where the superintendent’s report is stirring anger on social media.

The action plans are in response to the release by the state Department of Education of “2015 ESEA Accountability Profiles.” Those reports have been sent to school districts across the state but with an embargo on the release of that information to the public, according to school district officials. Some officials have said the profiles and the action plans are directed at increasing student participation in the testing through PARCC -- the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.

ESEA stands for Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the 1965 federal law enacted to ensure all children had equal access to education. The act provides funding to help low-income children, known a Title I funding.

Some districts are making no mention of the action plans on their meeting agendas. In Toms River, the plan was part of its executive session meeting but made no mention of PARCC. The Central Regional agenda mentioned the action plan, and during public session officials explained that it was to address the testing rates.

The tests have been assailed for months for a variety of reasons. Results released earlier this month show that in 2015, thousands of students across New Jersey did not take the tests, despite assurances from state Education Commissioner David C. Hespe that the tests will help ensure schools are properly preparing students for college and beyond.

According to PARCC calculations by the Asbury Park Press, statewide about 134,700 students eligible to take the language arts PARCC exam were marked “not tested” out of 904,500 registered for it. In math, about 123,000 students did not take the exam out of 869,000 registered to test.

In Toms River, the number of students who were not tested ranged from 8 percent among third-graders to as much as 55 percent of 11th-graders, according to PARCC data that has been released by the state.

In Manchester, the number of students not tested ranged from 4.7 percent of the third-graders to 38 percent among 11th-graders. Manchester’s school board met Wednesday but it was not immediately known whether that district adopted its action plan that evening.

In Brick Township, the number of students not tested was as high as 87 percent at the 11th-grade level. The Board of Education meets next Thursday and the agenda for that meeting is not yet available.

At Wednesday’s Toms River school board meeting, the corrective action plan, listed on its executive session notes as a “2015 ESEA Accountability Participation Rate Plans,” made no mention of PARCC. The accountability report also was mentioned during the curriculum committee report, with a note that the state Department of Education has embargoed release of the reports.

During public comment, Toms River resident Dennis Galante asked why the report was presented to the board behind closed doors. Superintendent David Healy said the state’s embargo on the reports meant that they could not be shared publicly, but it had to be shared with the school board because he and Board President Robert Onofrietti were required to sign a corrective action plan for the district.

Healy said information on the report would be shared when the state lifts the embargo, which he said was expected to happen in March or April. 

At the Central Regional Board of Education meeting Thursday night, Superintendent Trian Parlapanides told the audience that the ESEA corrective action plan on the agenda for the board’s approval was related to PARCC participation.

Parlapanides said that districts in which 10 percent or more of their eligible students did not take PARCC are required by the state to submit action plans on how they plan to increase participation.

Some districts have taken a harsh stance. The superintendent’s report in the Cinnaminson School District that has been published on social media highlighted the test refusals and blamed them for what it expects to be a negative impact on its Niche rankings, as well as resulting in test scores lower than “school districts that shouldn’t even be in the same sentence as Cinnaminson.”

In Mount Olive, parents claim they have been told that students who refuse the PARCC will have to take an alternate test administered by the district “of the same duration and skill level, which will be 10 percent of their grade.” Students who refuse to take that test will receive a zero. That plan was reported by the group Save Our Schools NJ, a vocal opponent of the PARCC.

The corrective action plans are being instituted even though the Department of Education has downplayed the number of test refusals, saying the number of “not tested” includes those who refused, were absent, had medical emergencies, and those were exempt due to special needs, limited language abilities or other reasons.

The state website notes, under the frequently asked questions: “Neither federal nor state law provides parents with an option regarding participation in the tests. The federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has required 95 percent of all students in grades 3 to 8 be tested annually. Schools that don’t meet the standard could face implementation of a corrective action plan and possibly risk a loss of federal funding.”

Critics also have complained that districts will use the tests as a sole measure of determining student placement, whether in remedial classes or accelerated courses.

“For students in New Jersey, passing PARCC isn’t required to advance from one grade to the next,” the PARCC FAQs state. However, PARCC testing is expected to be a graduation requirement for all students in the Class of 2020, under graduation requirements put forth by the state earlier this year.

“Local schools may use PARCC results as one of a number of measures to determine class placement, such as in a gifted program,” the state says.

In Manchester Township, Superintendent David Trethaway has said several times, in response to parent questions at school board meetings, that PARCC scores won’t be the only measure used to determine whether students are placed in basic skills or accelerated courses.

But in other districts, a subpar performance has been an automatic ticket to remedial courses.

According to the group Save Our Schools NJ, the Mount Olive School District has said it will be using PARCC for those placements.

In the Central Regional district, students whose NJASK scores fell below the proficient level were automatically assigned to basic skills classes. It’s unclear whether that policy will continue as PARCC moves forward.

One thing is clear: as PARCC testing gears up in the coming weeks, so will the clash between state officials and those who want to see the PARCC done away with.