Informational Presentations About PARCC Exams To Be Held In Holmdel

by Michelle Sahn

Parents’ groups at Holmdel schools will host informational presentations about the upcoming PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) exams.

The district will also hold PARCC prep sessions for high school students, Superintendent Barbara Duncan said at Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting.

The tests are “aligned with the new, more rigorous Common Core Standards, (and) they ensure that every child is on a path to college and career readiness by measuring what students should know at each grade level,’’ according to the PARCC website.

Presentations for parents will be held at Indian Hills School on Feb. 3, at the high school on Feb. 9 and at the Village School on Feb. 10. The parents’ group at the W.R. Satz School already held its information session.

The high school prep sessions, which will include lessons on test-taking strategies, will be held on Tuesday evenings in February, she said.

Other districts around the state are holding similar informational sessions as students prepare for the PARCC.

New Jersey does not have an opt-out policy for the exams, but if parents refuse to allow their children to take the tests, those students will be sent to their school libraries to use the time as a reading period, according to board member Chiung-Yin Cheng Liu.

The district has posted the test schedule on its website.