1. Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers
A Deeper Look into the Assessments
What is PARCC about?
Willa Spicer
and
Dr. Adele T. Macula
Presenters
October 29, 2013
Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers

2. Agenda Morning Session
1. Activity: Taking the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium’s “Pilot Test”:
An Online Experience – Grades 6-8
De-Briefing: What is the Impact?
Activity: PARCC Pre – Assessment
3. Videoclip – “What Does It Mean to Teach in the 21st Century?”
Activity: De-briefing…So What Does this Mean for My Teaching? 
4. Overview of PARCC
Assessment Design
Alignment with the Common Core
Test Components
4. PARCC Sample Questions, etc.
Variety of Structures/Formats
English Language Arts
Mathematics
5. Connecting the Common Core State Standards and PARCC
Activity: Advancing the Implementation of Common Core State Standards

3. On-Line Assessment

4. Type in: http://sbac. portal. airast
Type in: Go to bottom of page: Click green box “Student Interface Practice Test” Sign in as guest! Pick a grade…Take the test…Good Luck!

5. Discuss each of the assessments taken. What do you already know?
6/26/2012
So What Is the Impact?
At your table…
Discuss each of the assessments taken.
What do you already know?
What did you notice?
So…what do you do?
Before Common Core State Standards we had standards, but rarely did we have standards-based instruction.
Long lists of broad, vague statements
Mysterious assessments
Coverage mentality
Focused on teacher behaviors – “the inputs”
In this time of implementing the Common Core State Standards, it is very easy to approach this as yet another round of “standards revision.” Many of us have lived through such revision processes, multiple times.
Even though we have had standards across the country since the 1990s, we have not had systemic standards based instruction. There are plenty of reasons why previous versions of standards so rarely led to standards based instruction.
Typical state standards which preceded the Common Core were excessively long and broad. Even if a teacher wanted to teach all of the standards included in a typical grade, there simply are not enough school days in a year – perhaps in several years – to teach what was listed. In addition, the standards themselves were often made of exceptionally broad statements. Many student learning objectives could be aligned to very broad descriptions of learning.
One might think that the assessments designed to evaluate student learning of these standards would be a point of guidance to teachers working from a list of standards too long to teach. State assessments however were often built on vague blue prints that often surveyed or sampled the standards.
Teachers are therefore often left with the “best worst option” of simply covering as many of the standards as possible in order to hedge their bets for what would appear on the assessments. This has created an intense pressure on teachers, who have limited time. The level of student learning is considered only after the pacing charts.
For decades the long lists of standards coupled with accountability pressures have led to an unbalanced focus on what is being taught, rather than on what is being learned.

6. Activity: PARCC Pre-Assessment
Pages 3-4

7. Teaching in the 21st Century: What Does It Mean?
The Purpose:
Are Students Maximizing their Potential? Are Teachers?
Teaching in the 21st Century: What Does It Mean?

8. 6/26/2012
Table Discussion
Identify 1 SMALL CHANGE that you can make IMMEDIATELY in your own classroom? School?
Name 1 POWERFUL and/or DRAMATIC change you have the AUTHORITY to make?
What is 1 OBSTACLE or CHALLENGE preventing real movement?
Before Common Core State Standards we had standards, but rarely did we have standards-based instruction.
Long lists of broad, vague statements
Mysterious assessments
Coverage mentality
Focused on teacher behaviors – “the inputs”
In this time of implementing the Common Core State Standards, it is very easy to approach this as yet another round of “standards revision.” Many of us have lived through such revision processes, multiple times.
Even though we have had standards across the country since the 1990s, we have not had systemic standards based instruction. There are plenty of reasons why previous versions of standards so rarely led to standards based instruction.
Typical state standards which preceded the Common Core were excessively long and broad. Even if a teacher wanted to teach all of the standards included in a typical grade, there simply are not enough school days in a year – perhaps in several years – to teach what was listed. In addition, the standards themselves were often made of exceptionally broad statements. Many student learning objectives could be aligned to very broad descriptions of learning.
One might think that the assessments designed to evaluate student learning of these standards would be a point of guidance to teachers working from a list of standards too long to teach. State assessments however were often built on vague blue prints that often surveyed or sampled the standards.
Teachers are therefore often left with the “best worst option” of simply covering as many of the standards as possible in order to hedge their bets for what would appear on the assessments. This has created an intense pressure on teachers, who have limited time. The level of student learning is considered only after the pacing charts.
For decades the long lists of standards coupled with accountability pressures have led to an unbalanced focus on what is being taught, rather than on what is being learned.

9. A Strong Foundation…
The Common Core State Standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics were created by educators around the nation
Nearly every state in the nation is working individually and collectively to improve its instruction and assessments to ensure students graduate with the knowledge and skills most demanded by college and careers.
The PARCC assessment rewards this commitment by providing an assessment focused on the instructional shifts and academic skills needed to prepare all students for college and career readiness in the 21st century.

10. 46 States + DC Have Adopted the Common Core State Standards
TALKING POINTS:
46 States and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards
Most states are committed to implementing the standards by the school year

11. What’s Next? …Common Assessments
Common assessments aligned to the Common Core will help ensure the new standards truly reach every classroom
While the Common Core State Standards are a critical first step, they alone will not bring about the instructional changes necessary to improve student achievement and attainment. Creating common assessments grounded in common standards is the logical next step and will ensure the new standards truly reach every classroom
TALKING POINTS
I think we will all agree that the current system is broken. Every state develops their own assessments and for that reasons our nation’s assessments:
Are of varying quality and rigor and rarely point toward College- and Career-Readiness.
Do not provide meaningful, real-time data for our educators, parents and policymakers
Cannot be compared from state to state, ensuring that students in Mass. And Miss. are receiving the same foundation
Next generation assessments will:
Provide a more complete picture of student performance against college- and career-ready expectations
Use current and future technologies to provide a meaningful assessment and useful data
Mitigate Challenges associated with mobility—which is a major challenge in education
U.S Department of Education set aside $350 million of Race to the Top funding for awards to consortia of states to design and develop common K-12 assessment systems aligned to common, college- and career-ready standards. In Sept. 2010, the U.S. Department of Education awarded grants to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC)

12. PARCC Consortium States
TALKING POINTS
PARCC is an alliance of 18 states plus the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, educating nearly 25 million students, that are working together to develop a common set of K-12 assessments in English and math anchored in what it takes to be ready for college and careers. PARCC is led by 16 governing board states (and D.C.) represented in Purple.
CLICK: The chair of the governing board is Mitchell Chester, Education Commissioner of Massachusetts, and the state of Florida is serving as its fiscal agent.
CLICK: Achieve is the project manager for PARCC, essentially serving as the staff for the consortium and coordinating the work. Collectively the PARCC states educate nearly 25 million students.
Governing States will pilot and field test the assessment system components over the next three years and administer the new assessment system during the school year. Governing States will use the results from the PARCC assessments in their state accountability systems
The chief state school officers of the Governing States serve on the PARCC Governing Board and make decisions on behalf of the Partnership on major policies and operational procedures
Participating States (light blue) provide staff to serve on PARCC’s design committees, working groups, and other task forces established by the Governing Board to conduct the work necessary to design and develop PARCC’s proposed assessment system. By 2014–15, any state that remains in PARCC must commit to statewide implementation and administration of the Partnership’s assessment system Any PARCC Participating State prepared to make the commitments and take on the responsibilities of a Governing State can become one
NOTES
Leadership Team: Comprised of delegates of K-12 chiefs from Governing Board States (e.g., Assoc. Supt for Curriculum, Assessment and/or Instruction)
Technical Advisory Committee: Comprised of state/national assessment experts
Governing Board: Comprised of K-12 chiefs from Governing Board States
Operational Working Groups: Comprised of national, state, and local experts and leaders in their specific areas of expertise
ACCR: Comprised of national and state postsecondary leaders

13. PARCC Goals Create high-quality assessments
Build a pathway to college and career readiness for all students
Support educators in the classroom
Develop 21st century, technology-based assessments
Advance accountability at all levels
Build an assessment that is sustainable and affordable

14. Goal 1: Create High Quality Assessments
Priority Purposes:
Determine whether students are college- and career- ready or on track
Assess the full range of the Common Core Standards, including standards that are difficult to measure
Measure the full range of student performance including the performance high and low performing students

15. Goal 1: Create High Quality Assessments
Priority Purposes:
Provide data during the academic year to inform instruction, interventions and professional development
Provide data for accountability including measures of growth
Incorporate innovative approaches throughout the system

16. PARCC Assessments ELA/Literacy and Mathematics, Grades 3–11
Beginning of School Year
End of School Year
Flexible administration
Performance-Based
Assessment
Diagnostic Assessment
Mid-Year Assessment
End-of-Year
Assessment
Early indicator of student knowledge and skills to inform instruction, supports, and PD
Performance-based
Emphasis on hard-to-measure standards
Potentially summative
Extended tasks
Applications of concepts and skills
Innovative, computer-based items
Speaking and Listening Assessment
Key:
Optional
Required

17. Goal 2 – Build a Pathway to College and Career Readiness for All Students
K-2 formative assessment being developed, aligned to the PARCC system
Timely student achievement data showing students, parents and educators whether ALL students are on-track to college and career readiness
College readiness score to identify who is ready for college-level coursework
Targeted interventions & supports:
12th-grade bridge courses
PD for educators
SUCCESS IN
FIRST-YEAR,
CREDIT-BEARING, POST-SECONDARY COURSEWORK
K-2
3-8
High School
ONGOING STUDENT SUPPORTS/INTERVENTIONS

18. Goal 3: Support Educators in the Classroom
INSTRUCTIONAL TOOLS TO SUPPORT IMPLEMENTATION
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MODULES
K-12 Educator
TALKING POINTS
The PARCC assessments will be built with the K-12 educator in mind around four different areas.
(CLICK) INSTRUCTIONAL TOOLS TO SUPPORT IMPLEMENTATION
Model Content frameworks
Sample assessment tasks
Model instructional units
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MODULES
Common Assessment : PD focused on the implementation the new assessments
Common Assessment : PD focused on how to interpret and use the assessment results
TIMELY STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT DATA
Aligned performance-based assessments given throughout year
Data reports will be available, designed with teacher use in mind
EDUCATOR-LED TRAINING TO SUPPORT “PEER-TO-PEER” TRAINING
Training for cadres of K-12 educators around the instructional tools AND around training their peers to use the instructional tools
TIMELY STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT DATA
EDUCATOR-LED TRAINING TO SUPPORT “PEER-TO-PEER”TRAINING

19. PARCC - 5 TRAINING MODULES
For teachers, school leaders, and school site testing coordinators - each with a unique purpose.    
PARCC Assessments Overview- deepen understanding of the assessment system and learn more about the "hows" and "whys" of its innovative, distributed approach to summative and non-summative assessments;
Introduction to the PARCC Mid-Year Assessment - about administration and scoring options for the non-summative, optional assessment tool;
Introduction to the PARCC Diagnostic Assessment - deepen understanding of the diagnostic tool's design and its use in informing classroom instruction;
Introduction to the PARCC Speaking and Listening Assessment - review examples of scoring rubrics and the types of tasks in which students will engage; and,
PARCC Accessibility System Overview - about the features built into the computer-based testing platform for students with disabilities, English language learners, and other students. 
Additional professional development materials will be available separately that focus solely on PARCC's Performance-Based and End-of-Year summative assessments.

20. Goal 4: Develop 21st Century Technology-Based Assessments
PARCC’s assessment will be computer-based and leverage technology in a range of ways:
Item Development
Develop innovative tasks that engage students in the assessment process
Administration
Reduce paperwork, increase security, reduce shipping/receiving & storage
Increase access to and provision of accommodations for SWDs and ELLs
Scoring
Make scoring more efficient by combining human and automated approaches
Reporting
Produce timely reports of students performance throughout the year to inform instructional, interventions, and professional development

21. Goal #5: Advance Accountability at All Levels
PARCC assessments will be purposefully designed to generate valid, reliable and timely data, including measures of growth, for various accountability uses including:
School and district effectiveness
Educator effectiveness
Student placement into college-credit bearing courses
Comparisons with other state and international benchmarks
PARCC assessments will be designed for other accountability uses as states deem appropriate

22. Looking Ahead... Additional Sample Items Estimates for Assessment Cost
Summer 2013
Additional Sample Items
Estimates for Assessment Cost
Notification to Schools/Districts Selected for Field Test
Fall 2013
Design of Student Score Reports
Minimum Technology Specifications, version 3.0
Training for IEP Writing Teams Based on Accommodations Manual
Sample Items Re-Released in PARCC Technology Platform
Spring 2014
Field Test Administration and Practice Test
Fall 2014
Operational Assessment Administration Manual SY
Operational Administration of PARCC Summative Assessments
Summer 2015
Standard Setting
Throughout
Additional Guidance to Districts on Assessment Administration

23. Assessments in Grades 6-8
PARCC
Assessments in Grades 6-8
PARCC’s next-generation assessment system will provide students, educators, policymakers and the public with the tools needed to identify whether students — from grade 3 through high school — are on track for postsecondary success and, critically, where gaps may exist and how they can be addressed well before students enter college or the workforce.

24. Grades 6-8
The 6-8 PARCC assessments will be delivered at each grade level and will be based directly on the Common Core State Standards.
The assessments will include a range of item types, including
innovative constructed response
extended performance tasks
selected response
(all of which will be computer based).

25. PARCC Assessments ELA/Literacy and Mathematics, Grades 3–11
Beginning of School Year
End of School Year
Flexible administration
Performance-Based
Assessment
Diagnostic Assessment
Mid-Year Assessment
End-of-Year
Assessment
Early indicator of student knowledge and skills to inform instruction, supports, and PD
Performance-based
Emphasis on hard-to-measure standards
Potentially summative
Extended tasks
Applications of concepts and skills
Innovative, computer-based items
Speaking and Listening Assessment
Key:
Optional
Required

26. 2 Required Summative Assessment Components
Performance-Based Assessment (PBA) administered after approximately 75% of the school year.
The English language arts/literacy (ELA/literacy) PBA will focus on writing effectively when analyzing text. 1 2
End-of-Year Assessment (EOY) administered after approximately 90% of the school year.
The ELA/literacy EOY will focus on reading comprehension.
Overview of two summative assessment components:
Performance-Based Assessment:
Administered as close to the end of the year as possible
Will include essays and other high-quality, complex items.
End-of-Year:
Computer-scored, but would be far from the traditional “multiple choice” tests.
There will be multistep problems and tasks that students must complete in order to find the correct answer.

27. Non-Summative Components
…designed for timely feedback to inform instruction and provide multiple measures of student achievement across the school year. 1 2
Diagnostic Assessment
(Optional)
Mid-Year Assessment (MYA)
(Optional) 3
Speaking and Listening Assessment - REQUIRED
Overview of formative components:
Early Assessments:
Designed to be administered close to the beginning of the year.
Will provide an early snapshot of achievement knowledge and skills so that educators can tailor instruction, supports for students, and professional development to meet students’ needs.
Mid-Year Assessment:
Designed to be administered near the middle of the school year.
Performance-based
Will focus on hard-to-measure standards in the CCSS
Teachers could score this assessment to get quick feedback on student learning relative to the CCSS.
These components are:
are formative assessments
are developed by PARCC with its grant funds
are available to all PARCC states and their local districts
are intended to be administered early and midway through the school year
however, allow for flexible administration-- they can be administered at locally determined times, including at the discretion of the classroom teacher
can be scored quickly -- some can be computer administered and scored, others can be scored by the classroom teacher -- so that teachers can have timely information that can inform instruction for their students
designed to be an indicator of students’ ability to communicate their own ideas, listen to and comprehend the ideas of others, and to integrate and evaluate information from multimedia sources.
PARCC will create Speaking and Listening Assessments in Grades K-12 that will be field tested in early 2015 and ready for use in the school year. While available for use in Grades K-12, the Speaking and Listening Assessment is required for use in Grades 3-11, per the PARCC Assessment System design.

28. Speaking and Listening Performance Tasks
Students will engage with two modes of performance over the course of the year focused on speaking and listening skills:
1. Real Time Engagement (MODE 1) Students will listen to a pre-recorded speech and/or media production and speak/respond using spontaneous oral responses. Mode 1 performance based tasks will be administered in grades 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11.
2. Advance Preparation (MODE 2) Students will perform research using authentic and grade-appropriate topics, share their findings in the form of a formal presentation (speaking) and respond spontaneously to audience questions (listening and speaking). Mode 2 performance based tasks will be administered in grades 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12.
In both cases, teachers will have the ability to score student-produced content based on what they present or what they hear. Both performance tasks will be created in such a manner as to be 3
instructionally sensitive to students with disabilities, including students who may be deaf or hard of hearing.