By Ashley Nnabue ‘16 and Kira Yates ‘16

Recently, approximately 100 students at Sherwood took the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) field test, which resulted in multiple technical difficulties and established a need to appropriately equip schools for future computerized tests in order to continue reforming education.

The PARCC Assessment was developed to provide more challenging, deep-thinking and hands-on questions than the current HSAs, MSAs and other state-wide testing. “The PARCC Assessment is aligned with the Common Core Standards which have been in place for 10th and 11th grade [students] for some time now,” said English teacher Lynette Evans, who had two classes take the PARCC field test.

According to a student who participated in the pilot testing of the English section, there were four sections, which included typing essays, to complete in 90 minutes during two consecutive course periods. The students encountered parts where they had to watch videos in order to answer questions, which were then compared to the other provided writings that students had to write essays about.

Because the PARCC Assessment is on a computer, technical difficulties are a potential risk, as demonstrated by the many incidents that occurred during the field testing two weeks ago.  “Since every computer is different, a student’s test performance can be altered because they aren’t used to a certain computer …  so I really think they should just stick to pencil and paper.  It helps to keep everything consistent and gives every student a fair chance to do well,” said junior Shiffali Singh.

As Evans’ AP English Language class was taking the test on March 25 in computer lab A296, one student could not log onto the test initially and was forced to start 10 minutes later than the rest of the students.  While another student was taking the test, the site shut down and the student had to start over.  Three other students had tests that wouldn’t load. Their screens froze and administrators had to be called. They finally solved the problem by sending students to different computers, causing them to start 15 minutes late. These varied start times and technical problems tested the logistics of the PARCC testing.

On the second day of testing, classes arrived at the computer lab only to be told to return to class as the computer system was experiencing more technical difficulties.  The students were never able to finish the test.

Despite the several problems encountered, some feel the field tests succeeded in their purpose. “The field tests were created to test the logistics involved with the entire process of the test so the state could be provided with feedback on how they need to improve the system to make the tests successful in the future,” said math department head Sapna Chaudhry.

Principal Bill Gregory remains optimistic about the new testing. “The new curriculum and tests help you apply the skills you learn at an earlier time to what you will do in the future,” said Gregory.

With every year comes another addition to the PARCC testing. The test is scheduled to be officially implemented next year for all geometry courses and English classes except for those in 12th grade. In the following year, Algebra 2 students will also begin participating in the PARCC testing.