PARCC testing in schools has been nixed across Ohio. The decision was made Tuesday night in Columbus by the Ohio Department of Education.
The PARCC test measured english, language arts and math. It was created to assess whether students learned their common core standards.
Wadsworth Superintendent Dr. Andy Hill said the district was spending too much time changing their in-class instruction schedule to prepare for PARCC.
“There’s been a lot of opposition in Ohio to common core standards. As a result of that, once we started getting into the PARCC assessments and amount of time required, our district had to rearrange a lot of things,” Hill explained. “The high school spent two months on a modified schedule to accommodate state testing. We as a district felt the current structure of the testing was problematic because it was pulling away from instruction time.”
The federal No Child Left Behind law requires tests be administered in certain subjects and grade levels. What used to be a one-time test, became multiple testing sessions using PARCC: the performance part of the testing was in February and end of year in late April/early May. PARCC results and feedback coming months after testing was another factor that Hill believes led the state to scrap it altogether.
“We have no problem with accountability,” Dr. Hill said on the morning show with Tom and Tina Thursday. “We understand there needs to be some measures there…But when the testing gets to the point that it’s impeding the instruction that should be taking place with students, we feel we’ve crossed a line that needs to be revised and modified.”
The Ohio Board of Education has now partnered with AIR Assessment, a company they have a long-standing relationship with, and the company that administers the OGTs, to come up with a replacement test so school districts can still meet testing requirements and get federal funding.
“Ohio’s new standards are good, they’re quality and they stretch and push our students,” Hill said. “We’ve invested a lot of time and money into implementing the standards. We would hate to see any additional legislation that would impact the actual standards of what we’re teaching.”
While Hill recognized the change in testing is frustrating, he said it’s a step in the right direction.
“I do believe the change we’re talking about here is a positive one for our entire state, and specifically for what our focus is with Wadsworth students.”
