Monday, July 20, 2015

PARCC on the City Council agenda

On this Tuesday's City Council agenda:
8mm. William S. Coleman III request City Council place before the voters on the November 3, 2015 Election Ballot the following non-binding question: "Should there be a moratorium on Standardized PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) Testing?" 
 While testing doesn't fall under the City Council purview, local ballot questions are. This looks to me like a misunderstanding of House Bill 340, which calls for a three year moratorium on all measures surrounding testing (of both MCAS and PARCC), which was called for by the EAW and the Worcester School Committee; that is, we wouldn't see accountability level shifts, state takeovers and the like. The idea is that the state could then have a reasonable, non-rushed conversation about systems of assessment.
A moratorium on PARCC alone would not have that affect, as, presumably, we would simply stay with MCAS.

No comments: