1. The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) February 2011

2. Overview The Education Landscape About PARCC PARCC’s Vision Engagement & Outreach Timeline & Next Steps Challenges Ahead 2

3. The Education Landscape

4. We are standing at a once in a lifetime moment in education reform Nearly every state in the nation is working individually and collectively to improve its academic standards and assessments to ensure students graduate with the knowledge and skills most demanded by college and careers 4 The Education Landscape

5. The Common Core State Standards Initiative 5 Beginning in the spring of 2009, Governors and state commissioners of education from 48 states, 2 territories and the District of Columbia committed to developing a common core of state K-12 English-language arts (ELA) and mathematics standards. The Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) is a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). www.corestandards.org

6. To date, over forty states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), a consistent set of English language arts (ELA) and mathematics expectations that students need to meet to succeed in college and careers States have committed to implement the new standards by the 2014-15 school year This is an aggressive timeline that will require a strategy that draws on state policymakers, district and school officials, and classroom teachers to ensure a successful and efficient implementation and transition 6 The Common Core State Standards

7. 7 44 States + DC Have Adopted the Common Core State Standards * Maine and Washington have adopted the CCSS provisionally ** Minnesota adopted the CCSS in ELA only

8. While 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 to ensure: – All students have access to the new standards – States get an accurate view of how they stack up against one another Assessments aligned to the Common Core will help ensure the new standards truly reach every classroom 8 Why Common, Next-Generation Assessments?

9. Current Assessment Systems: Include too many tests, often with disconnected purposes (e.g., instructional improvement vs. accountability vs. college admissions) Are not challenging enough to measure college and career readiness and therefore have no currency with higher education (or most students) Do not measure the full range of college- and career-ready knowledge and skills (such as research, analysis, critical thinking, and collaboration) Fail to generate information for educators and students quickly enough or at all Are widely inconsistent across states, and impossible to compare Why Common, Next-Generation Assessments? 9

10. Next-Generation Common Assessment Systems Will: Measure students’ mastery of Common Core State Standards Provide a common measure of college and career readiness Include a range of item types that allow for the assessment of higher-order skills Leverage new technologies in assessment and reporting to get actionable student data to educators and parents in real time Mitigate challenges associated with student mobility by ensuring students will have the same expectations wherever they live Why Common, Next-Generation Assessments? 10

11. About PARCC

12. Race to the Top Assessment Program Competition $350 million of Race to the Top Fund set aside for awards to consortia of states to design and develop common K-12 assessment systems aligned to common, college- and career-ready standards The competition asked consortia to design assessment systems that meet the dual needs of accountability and instructional improvement In September 2010, the U.S. Department of Education awarded grants to: – Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) – Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) The winning consortia have four years to develop assessments systems, and states participating in either consortium will administer new assessments statewide by 2014-2015 12

13. PARCC is an alliance of 24 states 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 state-led and a subset of PARCC states make up its Governing Board State-based collaboration is the hallmark of PARCC. 13 About PARCC

14. 14 PARCC States Governing Board States Participating States

15. PARCC Governing Board States 15 15 Governing Board States Arizona Arkansas District of Columbia Florida (Fiscal Agent) Georgia Illinois Indiana Louisiana Maryland Massachusetts (Board Chair) New Jersey New York Oklahoma Rhode Island Tennessee Governing States will pilot and field test the assessment system components during the 2011–12, 2012–13 and 2013–14 school years, and administer the new assessment system during the 2014-15 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

16. PARCC Participating States 16 Alabama Colorado Delaware Kentucky Mississippi North Dakota Ohio Pennsylvania South Carolina Participating States 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 9 Participating States

17. PARCC selected Achieve as its Project Management Partner to play a key role in coordinating the work of the Partnership based on Achieve’s deep experience: – Developing educational standards, including the Common Core State Standards; – Leading multi-state assessment development efforts anchored in college- and career-ready goals; and – Convening a cross-section of state leaders around common issues and challenges Achieve is a bipartisan, non-profit organization that helps states raise academic standards, improve assessments, and strengthen accountability to prepare all young people for postsecondary education, work, and citizenship Achieve’s Board consists of Democratic governors, Republican governors and business leaders 17 PARCC Project Management Partner

18. 18 PARCC Committee Structure Governing Board Deals with major policy issues Leadership Team (LT) Responsible for operation and management Content Leads Groups responsible for aspects of content-specific areas Operational Working Groups (OWG) Responsible for day-to- day-aspects of specific areas Advisory Committee on College Readiness (ACCR) Advises Governing Board on higher education issues Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Responsible for technical and research work Standing Technical Working Groups (TWG) Domain-specific technical advisors, appointed by TAC and Leadership Ad-hoc Technical Working Groups (TWG) Same as standing TWGs, except convened as needed Technical Advisors Specific technical advisors appointed as needed Higher Education Leadership Team Responsible for postsecondary engagement to advance college readiness Steering Committee

19. The PARCC Vision

20. 1.Build a pathway to college and career readiness 2.Construct assessments that enable cross-state comparisons 3.Create better assessments 4.Make better use of technology in assessments 5.Match investments in testing with investments in teaching 20 PARCC’s Goals

21. The PARCC assessment system will be aligned to the college- and career- ready, Common Core State Standards Students who score proficient on the assessments will know they are on track for the next steps in their education, creating a more meaningful target In high school, results will send an early signal about whether students are ready for entry-level, non-remedial courses at higher education institutions in all 25 PARCC states Higher education partners in PARCC—more than 200 institutions and systems covering nearly 1,000 campuses across the country—have committed to help develop the high school assessments and set the college-ready cut score that will be used to place incoming freshman in credit-bearing college courses 21 Goal #1: Build a Pathway to College and Career Readiness

22. The PARCC assessment system will be aligned with the Common Core State Standards, which are K-12 standards that are: – Grounded in research, – Internationally benchmarked, and – Anchored in college and career readiness The common standards aim to ensure all students are held to the same expectations, regardless of their zip code For the first time, policymakers, parents and advocates will be able to compare their state’s achievement with that of their neighbors 22 Goal #2: Construct Assessments that Enable Cross-State Comparisons

23. The PARCC assessment system will include: A mix of item types – short answer, longer open response and performance-based – in addition to richer multiple choice items that: – Better reflect the sophisticated knowledge and skills found in the English and math Common Core State Standards and – Will encourage teachers to focus on helping each student develop a deep understanding of the subject matter, rather than just narrowing their instruction in order to “teach to the test” Testing at key points throughout the year to give teachers, parents and students better information about whether students are “on track” or need some additional support in particular areas 23 Goal #3: Create Better Assessments

24. 24 Goal #3: Create Better Assessments Source: Graphic adapted from a representation prepared by the Center for K-12 Assessment & Performance Management (www.k12center.org) START OF SCHOOL YEAR END OF SCHOOL YEAR Through- Course 1 Through- Course 2 25%50% Through- Course 3 75% Through- Course 4 90% End- Of-Year Key Components: Three “through-course” components distributed throughout the year in ELA and mathematics, grades 3-11 One Speaking/Listening assessment administered after students complete the third through-course component in ELA; required but not part of summative score (could be used for course grades) One end-of-year assessment

25. PARCC’s computer-based assessments will: Produce real-time snapshots of students’ knowledge Give parents, students and teachers the ability to adjust accordingly rather than waiting until the end of the school year when it’s too late to make changes PARCC assessments will be scored: By a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and human scoring States will individually determine the extent to which teachers will be involved in scoring 25 Goal #4: Make Better Use of Technology in Assessments

26. Technology will be central to the PARCC assessment system, providing cutting edge solutions to test development, administration, scoring and reporting PARCC is committed to selecting secure, open source and interoperable technology platforms that allow for ongoing updates and improvements to match advances in technology over time While the move to computer-based assessments will be challenging for some states, districts and schools, PARCC will offer technology audits and transition plans for its member states to ease the transition 26 Goal #4: Make Better Use of Technology in Assessments

27. PARCC, supported by resources provided by RTTT assessment and state funds, will create a set of high-quality instructional tools that will: Support good teaching Help teachers develop a deeper understanding of the CCSS and their instructional implications Be strategically selected to address priority standards for the through-course assessments, foundational standards, and standards that will require the greatest “stretch” for teachers and students Provide early signals about the types of student performance and instruction demanded by the PARCC assessments 27 Goal #5: Match Investments in Testing With Investments in Teaching

28. Engagement & Outreach

29. Teachers, School Leaders, District Administrators, and State Officials Stakeholders will regularly and quickly have a wider variety of useful performance data Parents, Students, and the Public PARCC’s assessments will, for the first time, give information about student performance relative to children in other states and against achievement standards anchored in college- and career-ready knowledge and skills Higher Education Assessments will identify whether students are ready for and prepared to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing postsecondary courses by the time they graduate from high school 29 PARCC’s Key Stakeholders

30. To support state efforts to implement and transition to the Common Core State Standards and next generation assessments successfully by the 2014-15 school year, PARCC will facilitate: – Consortium-wide support for strategic planning and collective problem solving for the implementation of CCSS and PARCC assessments; – Collaborative efforts to develop the highest priority curricular and instructional tools; – Multi-state support to build leadership cadres of educators who are deeply engaged in the use of those tools, the CCSS and the PARCC assessments. 30 PARCC’s Implementation Support

31. PARCC will convene two multi-state transition and implementation strategic planning institutes per year where state leadership teams composed of state and district leaders will: – Receive support to develop and execute strategic transition and implementation plans, – Focus on common policy decisions, challenges, and milestones, and – Monitor progress against their strategic plans In between the convenings, there will be regularly-held webinars on specific high-priority topics to help all states continue to make progress towards implementation 31 PARCC’s Implementation Support: Strategic Planning & Collective Problem Solving

32. PARCC also will convene a limited set of multi-state technical issue policy working groups organized for a small number of key state and/or local officials to work on focused transition and implementation challenges States will benefit from having a venue in which to collectively problem solve around a set of focused common technical policy issues Potential topics might include: – Transitioning to new assessments – Using PARCC assessments in teacher evaluations – Aligning instructional and curricular tools to CCSS and PARCC There will be 6-8 states in each group; every PARCC state will be invited to participate in at least 1 group 32 PARCC’s Implementation Support: Strategic Planning & Collective Problem Solving

33. PARCC is developing a robust set of high-quality instructional tools to help the education community transition to the next generation assessment system. Specifically PARCC will: Develop a framework that defines the priority tool set most important for improving teaching and learning and for supporting the implementation of the CCSS and PARCC assessments Rapidly create prototypes of “through-course” assessments so PARCC states can share them with educators as quickly as possible Develop a set of robust, high-quality model instructional units that highlight the most significant advances in the CCSS and PARCC assessments 33 PARCC’s Implementation Support: Instructional & Curricular Tools

34. The implementation of the CCSS and PARCC assessments cannot be successful without an actively engaged K-12 community As such, PARCC will be providing support to PARCC states to build educator leadership cadres PARCC will convene K-12 educators from across the states, over the course of the RTTT grant, to be trained in the CCSS and PARCC, to use the PARCC tools as they are developed and released, and to be leaders in their states on the standards and assessments PARCC states will need to deploy these educator leaders throughout the state to help train other educators and to build awareness of and grow support for CCSS and PARCC assessments throughout the broader educator community 34 PARCC’s Implementation Support: Educator Leadership Cadres

35. Given the critical role of higher education in the development and use of the PARCC assessments, PARCC will convene the Advisory Committee on College Readiness, which will: – Include system and institution chancellors/presidents from PARCC states – Provide critical advice to the Governing Board on higher education engagement and assessment-related issues PARCC will also convene the Higher Education Leadership Team – consisting of representatives from all member states – to help shape PARCC’s strategy for working with postsecondary education systems, institutions, academic administrators, and faculty in addition to K-12 to ensure the successful development and implementation of college-ready assessments that will eventually serve as an indicator of students’ readiness for credit-bearing coursework 35 Higher Education Engagement

36. Timeline & Next Steps

37. October 2010: Design phase begins September 2011: Development phase begins September 2012: Field testing and research and data collection begin School year 2014-15: Assessments administered in all PARCC states Summer 2015: Achievement levels, or proficiency thresholds, are set Timeline & Next Steps 37 The PARCC plan includes an ambitious timeline to develop and deploy new common assessments. PARCC states will see increasing levels of activity between now and the fall of 2014 when new assessments are fully launched

38. 38 PARCC Timeline Sept. 2011 Development phase begins Sept. 2012 First year field testing and related research and data collection begins Sept. 2013 Second year field testing begins and related research and data collection continues Sept. 2014 Full administration of PARCC assessments begins Oct. 2010 Launch and design phase begins Summer 2015 Set achievement levels, including college-ready performance levels

39. Challenges Ahead

40. There are a number of technical/technological challenges that PARCC is currently facing including: Developing an interoperable technology platform that meets the needs of all PARCC states Transitioning states to an computer-based assessment system – Will provide state and district needs assessment – Will support state and district transition planning Developing and implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) scoring systems and processes Identifying innovative item types that are effective measures Key Technical Challenges for PARCC 40

41. Developing and implementing next generation, K-12 assessment system in just four years will be a major challenge for state leaders, district and school leaders, and educators alike. Challenges include: Estimating administrative costs over time, including long-term budgetary planning – How can states use existing sources of funding to support implementation of the new assessment system? Transitioning to the new assessments, including “through-course” components, and what the impact will be at the classroom level – Providing tools, resources and supports to districts and schools to ease this transition Ensuring long-term sustainability Key Implementation Challenges for PARCC 41

42. The implementation of CCSS and PARCC will not happen in a vacuum and require states to address a number of related policies, such as: High school course requirements – What courses need to be required to ensure there is alignment with the Common Core and high school PARCC assessments? – In what courses should the assessments be given in high school? Accountability – How will states’ accountability systems need to evolve to take into account PARCC assessments? Student supports and interventions – How/when will supports and interventions be triggered for students not meeting proficiency/readiness scores on the PARCC assessments? Key Policy Challenges for PARCC 42

43. Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers http://www.fldoe.org/parcc/ www.achieve.org/PARCC http://parcconline.org

44. Assessment Examples

45. Performance Task Students (with prompting and support from the teacher) read “Garden Helpers” in National Geographic Young Explorers and demonstrate their understanding of the main idea of the text—not all bugs are bad— by retelling key details. [RI.K.2]

46. Performance Task Students locate key facts or information in Claire Llewellyn’s Earthworms by using various text features (headings, table of contents, glossary) found in the text. [RI.1.5]

47. Performance Task Students explain how the main idea that Lincoln had “many faces” in Russell Freedman’s Lincoln: A Photobiography is supported by key details in the text. [RI.3.2]

48. Performance Task Students explain how Melvin Berger uses reasons and evidence in his book Discovering Mars: The Amazing Story of the Red Planet to support particular points regarding the topology of the planet. [RI.4.8]