Digital PARCC
Additional resistance to PARCC stems from the cost school districts will incur in order to administer the test, which is taken on computers. Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, estimates the cost at “tens of millions of dollars.” “Seventy-five million dollars,” noted State Rep. Keiko Orrall (R-Lakeville), citing a number she said was given to her by Commissioner Chester. The cost doesn’t involve simply updating a school’s software and hardware, it also entails hours of labor to ensure a district’s digital systems are working properly and fund teacher training, Scott said. When asked if the taxpayers in individual school districts will pay
for these updates, he noted: “The money is going to have to come from somewhere.” “If we move forward with this initiative, not every [school district] will be on the same page,” Orrall said at the Board of Education’s Bridgewater forum. “This is a justice
“I don’t know if individual legislators are upset about how Common Core came about, but I think they would be entitled to be angry.” “It was a complete end-run around the legislature.” - Tom Birmingham, former Massachusetts Senate president issue, a fairness issue, and there are some districts that are wealthier than others. The reality is we can’t ensure, across the board, that people will be able to afford this new initiative.” Orrall also noted that Chester has yet to fulfill her request for a spreadsheet detailing what it will cost each school district to improve its systems for PARCC. Jacqueline Reis, Chester’s spokesperson, couldn’t confirm what the statewide cost would be to ready school districts for the PARCC.
Observations On Digital PARCC
Kalpana Guttman, Newton elementary school literacy specialist, a former fourth grade teacher, and her school’s PARCC administrator, noticed something different when third graders took the computerized version of the PARCC test this year. “We’ve been giving the MCAS for years and we haven’t had kids coming to pieces when they were taking these tests [on pencil and paper],” she said. “We had children falling apart taking these tests [on the computer].” Questions on the sample version of the digital PARCC test seemed so convoluted, Guttman asked her Ph.D. husband to complete the sample fourth grade English test, just to check her observations. He noticed that one question asked him to write an essay about the common theme of two passages. Yet they didn’t have a theme in common, he said, so he wasn’t sure if he was expected to write one essay or two, Guttman reported. “Now what’s really odd is
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states. A 26-state consortium just five years ago, Hess said it’s possible membership could drop to seven. Should Decker’s bill become law, the move would be disconcerting for DESE’s Chester, given he’s also chairman of the PARCC Governing Board. Some have questioned whether that role is a conflict of interest given Chester is state DESE commissioner while also overseeing development of the PARCC exam. Paul Sagan, chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Education, says it isn’t. During recent public forum meetings in Springfield and Lynn, Sagan said that Chester serves on the PARCC board at the behest of Massachusetts. Chester is only compensated for his work as Massachusetts’ education commissioner, Sagan said, and, therefore, there is no conflict of interest. Because so much controversy surrounds PARCC, Gov. Baker ordered the state’s Board of Education to hold five public forums around the Commonwealth to hear testimony from parents, teachers, students, school administrators, current and former state government officials, and curriculum experts about the new test and Common Core. During a Lynn forum, one parent — who’s also a software and electrical engineer — testified how under Common Core, elements of math instruction are pushed back to later grades compared to previous Massachusetts standards. “As an engineer, I can tell you there is a defined set of topics a child or student needs to learn before taking Algebra,” said Valerie Mollo of Wilmington, the mother of a fifth grader. “By pushing topics off the plate year after year after year the way Common Core does, it’s going to push Algebra out for these students to the ninth grade. For any student who wants to pursue a STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Math] degree, this will hurt their chances greatly.”
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