PARCC Testing in; MCAS out

June 18 - The Beverly School Committee voted to replace MCAS with an untested, unfinished testing program known as PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers). The children of Beverly will be used as experimental subjects for these tests while parents will not be informed of the results.  Common Core is a federally directed set of standards which drives curriculum and gives local control to the federal government. PARCC testing is fueled by Common Core and was unanimously voted in by the Beverly School Committee. Costs associated with Common Core and PARCC testing were largely ignored because no one knows what they will be. The S.C. voted to administer the tests solely using computers, ignoring computer glitches, software failures, wireless problems, etc. that have been reported by test takers and teachers throughout the country.  Common Core is an effort to "equalize" education in the United States. In other words, a state like Massachusetts with the highest standards in the country because of MCAS, will have to lower the bar in order to accommodate other states with lower standards. That is how the government will "close the gap" and leave our children under-educated.  Thanks go to the new superintendent and the Beverly School Committee for abandoning striving for excellence and giving us mediocrity.
I would like to know if parents and the public have been informed about what Common Core and PARCC are about. There have been no public forums to give the community a clue as to what is going on in the schools.