Millburn PARCC Testing Starts: Year 2 For The Controversial Exam

Millburn, NJ – Year two of the PARCC test has begun, Millburn.

On Monday, the Millburn Public School District began testing its grade 3 students for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exam.

Testing in the district will continue to May 13, but the controversy around the exam may continue well beyond then.

Opposition to the PARCC has been vociferous around Essex County, including in Millburn, where 40 percent of students refused to take the exam last year at the high school and 17 percent opted out in the middle school.

• See related article: Opposition Mobilizes Against PARCC : What's Happening in Millburn-Short Hills?

In Millburn, some local school administrators have spoken in support of the PARCC despite the widespread opt-outs seen in 2015.

Michael Ryan, Assistant Superintendent for Professional Development, Assessment and Reporting, discussed this year’s PARCC testing in a March letter to parents and guardians in the district.

“The PARCC test provides a deeper level of information about student progress than previous tests, which makes it a valuable tool to measure student performance,” Ryan wrote. “As a parent, you can use the information you learn about your child’s performance to support your child at home and guide a discussion with your child’s teacher to identify what, if any, additional support is necessary in school. Teachers use the information to guide their instruction and provide more personalized activities and learning opportunities for students. We can use scores and information from released testing items to help students identify and work on the areas where improvement is needed to ensure they are staying on track to be successful in the next grade.”

Ryan added:

“Moving forward PARCC results may be consulted as one of many data sources used to indicate the need for remediation or a student’s readiness for accelerated coursework at Millburn Middle School and Millburn High School, as NJASK scores had been in some cases… When a student does not participate in the annual state test, we all lose out on valuable information. We are committed to student achievement, and the PARCC test raises the bar for our students to ensure they are on the path to success.”

See the April-May PARCC testing schedule for Millburn here.

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