Top Ten Facts for Scheduling PARCC Assessments Fall/Winter Block Administration 2014 Spring Administration

Fact #1: PARCC Administration Flowchart 1 Administration: Performance-Based Assessment, End-of-Year Session: Grouping of students, composed of units Unit: Literary Analysis Unit, Research Simulation Unit, etc. Section: Calculator or non-calculator sections of Math units * *Grades 3-5 ELA/L does not include Unit 2

Fact #2: Number of Test Units 2 Grades 6-High School: 9 units total ELA/LMathematics PBA3 units2 units EOY2 units Total5 units4 units Grades 3-5: 8 units total ELA/LMathematics PBA3 units2 units EOY1 unit2 units Total4 units

Fact #3: Administration Time – Guidelines for Scheduling 3 TaskApproximate Time 1. Complete preliminary test preparation after students arrive (includes reading instructions to students and answering questions). 10 minutes 2. Distribute test materials to students/help students log-in. 5 minutes 3. Administer unit (times vary by unit) minutes 4. Complete end-of-unit activities, including closing units and collecting test materials minutes Total minutes

Fact #4: Unit Testing Time 4 PBA Unit 1 PBA Unit 2 PBA Unit 3 EOY Unit 1 EOY Unit 2 Grade Grade Grades PBA Unit 1 PBA Unit 2 EOY Unit 1 EOY Unit 2 Grade 3 75 Grade Grades Algebra I, Geometry Mathematics English Language Arts/Literacy

Fact #5: Spring 2015 Testing Windows 5 C OMPUTER -B ASED T ESTING “Regular Administration” for C OMPUTER -B ASED T ESTING Performance-Based Assessment (PBA)March 16−April 10, 2015 End-of-Year (EOY)May 4−May 29, 2015 P APER -B ASED T ESTING “Regular Administration” for P APER -B ASED T ESTING Performance-Based Assessment (PBA)March 23−April 3, 2015 End-of-Year (EOY)May 11−May 22, 2015

Fact #6: Length of Testing Window 6 General rule is 20 consecutive school days for computer-based testing and 10 consecutive school days for paper-based testing Breaks/holidays at any point during the window do not count towards 20/10 days

Schools may schedule units at any time during their testing window All units for all grade levels and content areas are available throughout each testing window For paper-based testing, each unit must be completed by all students within a grade/course on the same school day For computer-based testing, each unit within a grade/course should be scheduled as close together as possible Fact #7: Form Availability 7

It is highly recommended that schools schedule no more than two units per day for any given student However, a school may schedule as many units a day as needed for multiple groups of students Schools may schedule units back-to-back for students, but must give students a short break in-between units Fact #8: Number of Units in a Day 8

Within content areas, units must be administered in sequential order (except for make-up testing) – For example: Unit 1 → Unit 2, Literary Analysis → Research Simulation → Narrative Writing There is no specific order for content area – schools can administer ELA/L or Mathematics first Schools may alternate between content areas – For example: Unit 1 ELA/L → Unit 1 Mathematics → Unit 2 ELA/L → Unit 2 Mathematics Fact #9: Testing Order 9

If students miss a unit, they may skip the unit to continue testing with their testing group and make up the unit at another time within the testing window Schools must schedule make-up testing within the specified testing window Schools may combine students for content areas if the unit testing times and administration scripts are the same – For example: Grade 3 ELA/L PBA and Grade 4 ELA/L PBA) Fact #10: Make-Up Testing 10

Questions about scheduling policies? Please send them to Questions 11

For more information and resources on scheduling, please view the Scheduling Tool Kit on PARCC Online: administration-guidance administration-guidance This includes scheduling FAQs, schedule templates, and sample schedules For More Information 12