High Point gearing up for new standardized test
By Sue Kvanali
WANTAGE — High Point High School is poised to implement the government mandated Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) tests which will be phased in over a two-year period.
The assessment tests are designed to help students monitor their readiness in English and math for future careers and college-level coursework while they still have time to address any problem areas. Another goal of the tests is to provide teachers with timely results so they can guide learning objectives to support the needs of their students.
The standardized tests will be given to students in the same grade level throughout the 22-state consortium so that scores can be compared both at the state and national levels. In the past, the High School Proficiency Assessment was given only to juniors and was a pencil and paper test. PARCC will be administered to students in grades 9-11 and will be completely computerized.
“To service this many students this quickly, we’re going to require significant changes," said Scott Ripley, Director of Curriculum & Instruction at High Point. "That’s going to include the purchase of desktop computers, purchase of laptops, laptop carts, PC desks, network cable wire runs, headsets with microphones, testing carols, network upgrades, electrical work. All of these things we have met and come up with a plan to implement."
Maintaining the integrity of the library and current classrooms while meeting the needs of the PARCC test poses its own set of challenges, but Ripley said he is prepared.
"This is a massive undertaking," said Ripley. "Most schools, in my communication, are not where we’re at. Even though you say, ‘well that’s two years away,’ if schools are not actively planning this now they will not be prepared to give this exam."
High Point BOE Vice-President Ken Nelson asked if the cost for these changes have been factored into future budgets at the April 16 BOE meeting. Ripley said the speed at which the state is implementing the new testing procedures and the way they've communicated with educators on the issue has not been in line with creating a school budget. "The 38 million dollars that the state received from the federal government dictates and demands they implement in the manner in which they state it must be done," said Ripley. "So we essentially have to react to the state’s process.”
Some of the costs are included in the current year's budget but Ripley said High Point did not include the bulk of the cost for the new testing procedure in next year's budget.
Ripley said the state is not providing any funds for the new testing procedure.
The first PARCC testing sessions will be in late March and early June of 2015.