COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s new two-year budget bill bans the state from spending any further funding on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) testing.
House Bill 64 was signed by Gov. John Kasich on Tuesday, June 30.
Ohio joins a number of states pulling out of the PARCC consortium–which once had about half the country as members.
PARCC’s math and English exams were administered to students throughout the state for the first time during the 2014-2015 school year.
According to the PARCC website, “The PARCC assessment is based on the core belief that assessment should work as a tool for enhancing teaching and learning. Because the assessments are closely aligned with the new, more rigorous Common Core State Standards (CCSS), they ensure that every child is on a path to college and career readiness by measuring what students should know at each grade level.”
“I wished that they had never forced it on us in the first place, said Ontario Board of Education President Sam VanCura of PARCC testing.
“It was too complicated. And not every school had the computer capability to administer the tests properly. They increased our cost dramatically last year to take that PARCC test.”
The Ontario board took a firm stance against the Common Core State Standards and aligned assessments last December. It was written in a resolution passed by the board that “the Ontario Local School District Board of Education believes that the new state assessments for the Common Core standards disrupt learning, consuming tremendous amounts of time and resources for test preparation and administration.”
It adds that the board believes “the administration of the assessments as well as the content of those assessments interfere with local or state control.”
“I am so frustrated with the PARCC testing and the fact that we had it for one year. We gave significant time last year teaching the kids how to take that test that it took away so much classroom instruction time for stuff that the kids should be learning, said VanCura.
“We need to be teaching kids, not testing them all the time.
“I don’t think that we gained anything from the one-year experiment with [PARCC].”
Paul Walker, assistant superintendent and director of curriculum at Shelby City Schools, echoed similar frustrations in that “there was a lot of wasted time” devoted to preparing for the PARCC assessments, only to have them dropped after a year of implementation.
He noted, “The [Ohio] Department of Education sets the assessment company and that’s what we have to live with. We don’t really get a lot of choice in that.”
The budget bill states that the new tests are to be administered once each year, not over multiple testing windows. It adds that the length of those assessments are to be reduced as compared to the assessments that were administered in the 2014-2015 school year.
“I do think there was some value in giving [the tests] in March and in May, but it was way too much testing,” said Walker. “They wanted to make it where you could get feedback right away [after the first round of testing] and correct things [for the second round of testing]…but you didn’t get any feedback, so that’s where it lost its value.”
Walker agreed with the decision to make the tests shorter, noting, “There was a lot of time taken away from instruction with the previous assessments, so teachers were getting pretty frustrated with that and kids were getting worn out.”
The bill does not change Ohio’s use of the Common Core standards in any way. Those remain in place across the state.
During a meeting at the Ontario Public Library in early February, State Rep. Mark Romanchuk; Heidi Huber, founder of Ohioans Against Common Core; Rob Coburn, president of Garaway School District’s Board of Education; and Marianne Gasiecki, state co-coordinator of Tea Party Patriots, spoke to people about opting their children out of the PARCC assessments.
Huber said at the meeting, “Getting rid of PARCC does not solve our problems because the standards are aligned to any assessment, so we’re go to get PARCC’s twin.”
On Operation Opt-Out Ohio’s Facebook page, the group dubbed American Institutes for Research (AIR) as PARCC’s “evil twin,” encouraging parents to “Get your opt out letters ready!”
AIR has replaced PARCC as the state’s test provider for the math and English exams. This past school year, AIR provided Ohio’s new science and social studies tests.
According to the AIR website, “AIR is one of the world’s largest behavioral and social science research and evaluation organizations. Our overriding goal is to use the best science available to bring the most effective ideas and approaches to enhancing everyday life.”
When asked if she agrees with the claim that AIR is PARCC’s “evil twin,” Clear Fork Valley Local Schools Superintendent Janice Wyckoff, said “I don’t know. I mean it’s online testing. It’s here to stay. I guess the bigger issue is how many tests are they giving and how much time are we wasting out of our classroom time–that’s the question.
“To me, it doesn’t matter what company [providing the assessments] it is because there’s going to be a test anyway. Testing is a way of life–it’s just a matter of how high-stakes it is.” she said.
During their meeting in April, the Clear Fork Board of Education passed a “More than a Test Resolution for Our Students” to address the amount of testing in which students are expected to participate.
Students are inundated with too many tests, Wyckoff said, “And then we’re making them so high-stakes that we’re creating a generation of kids that are so stressed out by testing.”
She noted, “There’s nothing wrong with high standards–it’s just the road to get there.”
She remains optimistic for the upcoming school year, noting, “I’m always optimistic because I know that I have a fantastic staff, and they will rise to whatever occasion they need to rise to, and they will take their kids to the level they need to go to.”
Walker said, “There’s still a little bit of unknown going into the next school year.” He said they haven’t seen any testing samples from AIR for the English and math exams.
“That’s why this is a good time for us to continue to focus on the learning standards, make sure the kids are learning what they’re supposed to, and if not, provide an intervention so they can get it, and then hopefully by midyear we’ll see some of these assessment samples so we’re ready in May,” he said.
“I am so frustrated with the PARCC testing and the fact that we had it for one year. We gave significant time last year teaching the kids how to take that test that it took away so much classroom instruction time for stuff that the kids should be learning, said Sam VanCura.
