The 2014–15 school year is going to be groundbreaking for Cherry Hill Public Schools and other districts in New Jersey.
This year will be the first full year of the PARCC assessments. The new standardized tests will replace the old NJASK and correspond to the Common Core standards.
Assistant Superintendent Joe Meloche said much of the curriculum office’s focus this summer was preparing for the PARCC.
PARCC preparation has involved both revising and implementing new curriculum as well as preparing for the test itself. Over the past two weeks, the district has been training teachers for the new school year, working with them on the new curriculum and implementing more technology in everyday lessons.
In language arts and math, students will be preparing for PARCC in different ways. Language arts classes will see a focus on writing and information text. Math classes will focus on specific skills at various grade levels and applying those skills.
Science was a large focus of the curriculum revisions this summer. The district did a full-scale examination of Next Generation Science Standards, including a look at the high school biology curriculum in relation to the state’s biology test. Meloche said the staff also worked on creating a smoother transition from middle school to high school biology.
Classrooms will see a larger use of technology this year. With PARCC taking place on a computer, Meloche said getting kids used to using technology on a regular basis is important.
“The district is expanding the availability of technology across the grade levels,” Meloche said.
Last year, a few of Cherry Hill’s schools took part in the PARCC field test, which was strictly a trial run of the assessment to allow school districts to assess how ready they are for the new assessment. The students’ results did not count and were not reported.
“The field test went well from our perspective, in terms of technology that was in place and system infrastructure,” Meloche said. “We have a forward-thinking technology department that has been working diligently to make sure we would be prepared on the hardware and network side of the equation.”
A number of other curriculum changes not related to PARCC will also take effect this year. The district will be taking a close look at the new humanities and social studies curriculum revised last year for possible changes. The district could also take a look at its world language curriculum at some point this year.
The district has made a handful of changes with its high school advance placement courses, directly related to College Board’s revisions in AP tests, Meloche said.
When it comes to PARCC, Cherry Hill believes its as prepared as it can be. However, Meloche said the district has a lot to do prior to the first testing period next spring.
“We do feel that we will be ready, but there is still a tremendous amount of work to do between now and the first testing window,” he said.
