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The Record - Districts prepare for new testing...'The research is very mixed about a single test's value as a predictor of an individual teacher's competence. Only time will tell whether the governor's implementation delay and study of assessment will be meaningful." '
The Record - Districts prepare for new testing
August 14, 2014 Last updated: Thursday, August 14, 2014, 12:32 AM
By Marsha Stoltz MANAGING EDITOR Franklin Lakes - Oakland Suburban News
Area schools are poised for their first year under new computer standardized testing that will determine how well they have assimilated national Common Core state standards over the past four years.
New Jersey joined 23 states and the District of Columbia to develop a common testing vehicle for those standards under the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) in 2010. Next spring, PARCC tests will replace the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK) tests in Grade 3-8, and the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) in Grade 11.
The first official testing year likely would have started without fanfare until Governor Christie issued an executive order July 14 modifying the impact the tests will have on teacher evaluations. Originally slated to count for 30 percent of a teacher’s evaluation score, the order creates a more gradual impact: 10 percent the first year the tests are given, 20 percent the second. His order also calls for a review of standardized testing in the state.
Under 2012 tenure reform legislation, poor teacher evaluations over two years can lead to termination.
The New Jersey Education Association praised Christie’s move. The state teacher’s union has long resisted tying teacher evaluations to standardized testing scores, particularly when the tests are new.
"The new curricula to comply with the Common Core are not fully in place in most districts," said NJEA president Wendell Steinhauer. "NJEA believes this agreement is the best possible outcome, and it should lead to common sense, research-based recommendations from the Study Commission."
Locally, educators say the change will have little impact on their day-to-day operations.
"The public would have little or no interest in this," said Robert Marcotulli, assistant superintendent, administrator and board secretary for the Ramsey school district.
Laurence Loprete, president of the Franklin Lakes school board, conceded the order "gives districts and boards time to learn more about what is expected and to review PARCC results before they impact teacher evaluations."
Franklin Lakes Superintendent Dr. Lydia Furnari called the graduated system "a logical next step."
"First we should see if the test is a valid and reliable instrument," she said. "PARCC is different from past tests. We are in unchartered waters."
And not everyone agrees the districts are ready to test their students. Steinhauer argued "many districts do not possess the technology — or the resources to acquire it — that is central to PARCC administration, and both teachers and administrators still have much work to do to develop and implement the key elements of the new evaluation system."
Representatives of teachers’ unions in Northwest Bergen communities could not be reached last week.
But former Waldwick Superintendent Dr. Patricia Raupers said in April that the launch of PARCC testing next spring was "hasty," and cited a number of hardware concerns that could affect the reliability of test scores. Meanwhile, John Meeks unsuccessfully ran for the Midland Park school board this spring on an anti-Common Core standards platform, saying it posed "the greatest threat to our students" because "it was created by organizations that are not accountable to taxpayers, students, teachers or parents."
Still, district representatives say they have been preparing for the testing, and expect their students to do well.
Education shift
In what the Washington Post recently called "one of the swiftest and most remarkable shifts in education policy in U.S. history," 45 states and the District of Columbia adopted uniform educational standards between 2008 and 2010 usually referred to as Common Core. The movement was promoted by the Bill and Melina Gates Foundation to stem what educators described as the increasingly erratic tide of public education standards in the U.S. Almost half its high school graduates arrive at college in need of remedial instruction.
A change in K-12 testing would be of passing public interest except that the PARCC tests are the first designed to be taken solely on computers. School districts that previously confined their in-school computers to teachers and "lab" rooms where machines could be shared determined they were not adequately equipped to administer the tests to all students at the same time, and have scrambled to place computers in the hands of as many students as possible.
And technology costs money.
Franklin Lakes this spring approved a proposal to purchase 500 laptops for its middle school students at $1,076 each, or an estimated $131,493 annually over a four-year lease. Waldwick announced in April it would spend about $400,000 to upgrade its network infrastructure, estimating half of its 1,144 work stations were near "end of life" status. Ramsey budgeted $125,000 in 2013-14 alone for its student iPad initiative, ensuring that everyone in Grades 7-12 would have computers by 2015. Midland Park hired a technology and data coordinator for $120,000 in 2013 to oversee its instructional and non-instructional school computer networks.
Additionally, the Common Core standards are making new demands on teacher time. Most notably, Wyckoff announced this spring that they were doubling teacher prep (non-student) time from 225 to 450 minutes each week. Teachers will be paid for 90 minutes of non-student time each day — 30 at the beginning of the day and 60 midday — so they can coordinate the interdisciplinary lesson plans demanded by the curriculum. "All high-stakes testing, NJASK or PARCC, should be viewed through an appropriate lens," said Richard Kuder, superintendent of the Wyckoff K-8 district. "Standardized test data surely has a place in assessing the overall alignment of a school or a district to the standards. However, I think we need to be very careful and deliberate about the use of high-stakes testing as a means to evaluate the performance of teachers. The research is very mixed about a single test's value as a predictor of an individual teacher's competence. Only time will tell whether the governor's implementation delay and study of assessment will be meaningful."
E-mail: stoltz@northjersey.com
