The Española School District plans to implement a new standardized exam to replace the one it has been using to determine student proficiency at certain grade levels.
The new exam, developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, will replace the Standards Based Assessment the state has been using to evaluate a student’s academic progress as they move through the education system.
New Mexico will begin using the new assessment starting in the 2014-2015 academic year and it will be administered to students in grades three through 11.
The new assessment is similar to the previous one, in that it measures a student’s grade level proficiency in a variety of subjects, but it adds another element; it also measures whether a student is ready for college or a career when he or she is about to graduate high school.
There are a number of differences between the two tests. First, according to the state’s Common Core website, the new assessment will be much more technology-based than past exams.
“One of the differences is that PARCC is administered on a computer, whereas the SBA has been taken on paper and pencil,” said Leighann Lenti, the New Mexico Public Education Department’s deputy secretary for policy and programs.
She believes this will be an advantage for the state because it allows for rigorous data collection, allowing school officials to better track students’ progress. Moreover, since the exam is given on a computer, Lenti believes it can create cost savings for New Mexico.
The second, and perhaps the most significant difference, is that the new exam is aligned with the Common Core standards the state adopted. The state wants to test students in the same way that it will teach them under Common Core, the new curriculum. The new test will allow for this kind of alignment.
Since Common Core standards want students to learn material at a much deeper level, the questions will reflect that change.
The state, on its Common Core website, states, “The PARCC assessment will include performance assessment items or tasks that go beyond choosing answers on multiple-choice questions to demonstrate deep understanding and advanced problem solving skills through simulations, mock experiments and other innovative types of items.”
A practice question provides a glimpse of the difference.
“For a school field trip, 72 students will be traveling in 9 vans. Each van will hold an equal number of students. The equation shows a way to determine the number of students that will be in each van. 72÷9 = ? The equation can be rewritten using the following operation.”
The test then lists a variety of choices.
As excited as Lenti is about the change, the reaction from the teachers and school administration are mixed.
Española School District Superintendent Danny Trujillo said, “I think there is just a lot more quality, more rigor to the PARCC assessment.“
Damon McGinn, a teacher at Española Valley High School is not so sure. He said he has not been made aware of how the new Assessment is going to work and how it is going to fit into how he is evaluated as an instructor.
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, the organization that developed the assessment is a group of states that have adopted Common Core standards from the national government and are working together to measure student progress as they move through the school system.
Some of the states that belong to the group are Arizona, Alabama, Colorado and New York.