Administration is optimistic for second year of PARCC testing

About 80 percent of Pascack Valley’s student body last year chose not participate in the new standardized test, PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers), which is affiliated with seven different states. This year, though, only 12 percent are not taking the test, according to PV Principal Tom DeMaio.  

Testing for the 2015-2016 school year will be taking place from today until Tuesday. The first two days will consist of mathematics and the following two will be covering English and language arts.

Last year, the lack of participation in PARCC was a disappointment to PV’s administration and the school’s reputation. This year, PV is making a push for better turnout in both student attendance and passing test scores on the test.

“I know the state wished we had more students taking it (PARCC) and I know we wished more students had taken it,” said assistant principal John Puccio.

Despite PARCC not being particularly favored among students, it has the benefit of giving students experience with online tests that they may encounter in the future.

“If you are going to go into any field — nursing, engineering, or medical — you’re going to need to take online tests,” Puccio said. “If this [PARCC] is checking your knowledge and exposing you to that environment, then you have nothing to lose [by taking the exam].”

Although this may be an advantage to students, the PARCC is causing stress, especially since it is taking place the same week as AP testing. The administration had the option to administer the test during either April or May, and they chose this week in May because they felt it gave students and teachers more time to fully cover all of the aspects of their curriculums, even though it overlapped with AP testing.

NJSPOTLIGHT and Nj.com showed that PV’s scores were low in comparison to its typical averages on other standarized tests. Last year, 66 percent of freshman, 56 percent of sophomores, and 70 percent of juniors didn’t meet PARCC expectations. This alarming rate was likely because many who did opt to take the exam didn’t care much about their scores and chose not to do their best work.

“Most people decided to opt out of it. Others took it and wrote down nothing that could be graded,” PV senior Allan Camara said.

However, this year, with more students taking the PARCC, administrators feel that there will most likely be a significant rise in successful test scores.

According to Puccio, the most probable reason there was a significant difference in refusal rates from last year to this year is that, this year, the administration required students to meet with their guidance counselor before refusing to discuss why they don’t want to be involved.

Furthermore, administrators explained that the excessive amount of negative coverage of the PARCC last year most likely influenced PV students to not take the test. They also believed that many students didn’t take the test simply because they felt like they didn’t need to.

“People understand that there is an alternate way to get their high school diploma without having to take the PARCC,” DeMaio said. “It is comfortable for them since there is no major repercussion for them to refuse [the test].”

Despite popular belief, the PARCC is currently a graduation requirement. However, there are alternate tests that can take its place (ACT, SAT, etc.) in the case where a student doesn’t pass the PARCC. It is estimated that by 2021, students will no longer be able to take these alternate tests in place of the PARCC.