As the Common Core State Standards are sweeping the nation, more and more teachers and parents are wondering about the assessment of the new curriculum.
PARCC, The Partnership for Assessment for Readiness for College and Careers, is a consortium of states working together to develop a common set of K-12 assessments. The goal is to dramatically increase the rates at which students graduate from high school prepared for success in college and the workplace.
It will provide students, educators, policymakers and the public tools needed to identify whether students are on track for postsecondary success and where gaps need to be addressed before students enter college or the workforce. These new assessments will assess the full range of the Common Core Standards, both content and practices.
The assessment system will be comprised of four components.
- Two summative, required assessment components designed to:
- Make “college- and career-readiness” and “on-track” determinations,
- Measure the full range of standards and full performance continuum, and
- Provide data for accountability uses, including measures of growth.
- Two non-summative, optional assessment components designed to:
- Generate timely information for informing instruction, interventions, and professional development during the school year.
- An additional third non-summative component will assess students’ speaking and listening skills.
Assessments will be computer based and will be graded via computer scoring and human scoring. PARCC assessments will begin during the 2014-15 school year.
