Click the link above for a power point that explains how PARCC has changed and what you should know.

PARCC Score Report
They are new!? What should you expect and should you
do with the information you receive?
Why PARCC?
 Selected by MSDE as assessment to comply with federal requirements
to assess students’ proficiency in English/Language Arts (ELA) and
Math
 Once through initial period of norming, PARCC should help schools
determine:
 If students are on track to be college/career ready as they move
through school
 If students are meeting standardized grade level standards (as
determined by CCSS – MCPS’ Curr. 2.0) in ELA and Math
 How students are performing in relation to their grade level peers
from school, MD, and US
http://understandthescore.org/about-the-test/
Old vs. New
 PARCC asks students to perform very different tasks than past tests
 Students were required to:
 answer multiple choice questions (could “guess” an answer with strategies)
 provide answers to previously memorized information
 information was presented without context
 Students are now required to:
 read, write, and reflect across multiple texts and media
 analyze, show, and explain the “why” of responses
 information is presented in real world context, with an increased emphasis on informational
text
 online/computer based
Expectation to think critically, write, and cite evidence has increased tremendously
What you need to know
 Replaced Maryland School Assessment for ELA and Math (still have Science MSA
for 5th graders)
 PARCC is only 1 data point that we use to assess student performance
 PARCC assesses proficiency in relation to CCSS (in MCPS a.k.a Curr. 2.0)
 Cannot compare student, school, or system performance on PARCC to past
performance on MSA
 Scores below Level 4 do not indicate that students have learned less or that they
have failed to learn – scores reflect change in expectations
 National/MD trend –student performance will improve over time (took 5 years for
old HS English scores to go from 40% prof to 71%), especially with change to
more rigorous standards and dramatically different type of assessment
 1st year’s data is our new baseline – we will progress from and measure growth
moving forward
 Staff at Rock View will glean what we can from this year’s data and focus our
efforts to grow
Overview of the PARCC Score Report
1st time these reports have been generated –
Spring 2015 performance
1 report for each Math and English/Language
Arts (ELA)
Multiple parts to Report – Overall student
performance, Score graph, & Score breakdown,
performance levels
Scores fall into Levels 1-5, with Levels 4 & 5
considered “proficient” or “exceeding”
http://understandthescore.org/
This year’s PARCC
Overall 90 minutes shorter than last year
1 administration window May/June (End of
Year only at ~ 80% course completion)
Results will be reported much more quickly
Still considered a transition year
Resources
 New website for parents (English and Spanish)
Understandthescore.org
 BeaLearningHero.org/skillbuilder for targeted ideas based
on your child’s results
 MSDE website at marylandpublicschools.org/msde/ for
general information and links to many resources
 Greatschools.org has a Common Core test guide
 PARCConline.org for released test items and PARCC info
 Partnership Resource Center at prc.parcconline.org for
practice test