Even though students across New Jersey will be taking a new standardized test in fewer than two weeks, the Lenape Regional High School District’s approach to testing will not change.
The district’s board of education passed a protocol for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career test at last week’s meeting. The protocol won’t be different from the way the district treated standardized assessments in the past. Superintendent Carol Birnbohm said students at all the district’s high schools will be presented the assessment as the state Department of Education mandates.
At past board of education meetings, parents have requested the board take students who refuse to take the PARCC test to another room to do an alternate activity, but Birnbohm said an alternate room will not be provided.
“All students will be encouraged to take the test,” she said.
The district is not enforcing a “sit and stare” policy. Birnbohm said the district’s staff will provide quiet, gentle encouragement for all students to take the test. The district will not single out students for refusing the test.
In the past, students have been permitted to read books once they are finished with their test. This procedure will continue with PARCC.
One parent at the board meeting was unhappy with what she heard. Megan Chamberlain, a parent of a Seneca High School student, said she submitted a refusal letter to Seneca administrators and was hoping her child would be able to sit in a non-testing room while her fellow classmates took the PARCC.
The school district is hoping students approach PARCC from a positive point of view. It has been preparing students for the upcoming tests through alignment to the Common Core curriculum and through providing students with sample test questions.
Birnbohm said Common Core and PARCC’s increased difficulty is not different from changes the state has made in standardized testing in the past.
“We have a history of increasing rigor in our standards,” she said.
Birnbohm described PARCC as an opportunity for students to perfect their skills. She noted other tests such as the SAT are being aligned to Common Core State Standards in 2016 and will feature questions similar to PARCC.
“This is another chance for them to practice and show their proficiency,” Birnbohm said.
PARCC is not a graduation requirement for students in high school. However, Birnbohm said it will be a requirement beginning with the class of 2019. She feels it’s essential to establish the importance of this assessment right away.
“We need to show we’re providing an environment to prepare our students for the new graduation requirement,” Birnbohm said.
From an infrastructure standpoint, the district is fully prepared to administer the tests. Director of programs and planning Chris Heilig said the district has undergone multiple tests of its technology infrastructure to make sure the assessment could be administered at all four high schools.
“What was important to us was we wanted to expose our students to the content and also test our infrastructure,” Heilig said.
From a technology standpoint to student readiness, district officials are confident everyone is prepared for PARCC. The first day for testing in the Lenape district and other districts in New Jersey is March 2.
