Assessment Testing Input Wanted

SALEM, MA - Last month, the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted to transition to a next generation MCAS test starting in 2017.

That test will use both Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and MCAS items along with items developed specifically for the Massachusetts assessment tests.

However, that will leave some districts, such as the Salem Public Schools, with a decision to make about assessment testing for 2016.

A community forum at the Collins Middle School on Monday, Dec. 14 at 6:30 p.m. will provide an overview of those options.

For spring 2016, districts that administered the PARCC in spring 2015 will do so again. However, districts such as Salem that administered the MCAS will have to make a choice between administering the MCAS test with PARCC like items or administering the PARCC test.

According to school district officials, each choice comes with implications to the accountability status of the district. At the forum on Dec. 14, Superintendent Margarita Ruiz will present an overview of each choice and seek input regarding which assessment will be administered in Salem in the spring of 2016.

There will be a Spanish interpreter available during the forum.