2. The ever allusive PARCC and Smarter Balanced assessments are not clear to anyone- educators or administrators alike. In the year 2014-2015, the PARCC (or Smarter Balanced Assessments) will be given to our students, but the problem is that no one is clear what these tests will look like. To administer these tests to students in less than two years seem premature and will likely set kids up for failure, yet again. Instead of rushing to get these tests out by the 2014 school year, districts should wait until the tests can accurately measured what students can do. In turn, these assessments should be more authentic and should be more of a portfolio rather than a multiple choice test. In addition, they should ask students to create arguments, show their reasoning and cite textual evidence-all skills applicable to the real world. Â Instead of implementing these tests immediately, these tests should be gradually phased in with full implementation starting in 2020 to “vet” potential problems with the test.
Click here for reason #3.
