The state’s decision to drop PARCC testing for high school students, in favor of the SAT, is being applauded by local school administrators.
The Illinois State Board of Education announced Monday PARCC tests no longer would be used, after only two rounds of testing – the spring of 2015 and 2016 – yielded dismal test scores and thousands of students skipping the exams.
Students in grades 3-8 will continue taking the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers in reading and math, exams designed to prepare students for college and work. The state tests have drawn opposition from families who questioned the amount of testing at school – part of a national movement that has prompted some states to stop using the PARCC exams, which are based on Common Core standards.
Superintendent Timothy Kilrea of Lyons Township High School District 204 was pleased by the change.
“We appreciate the state’s listening to our concerns that we’ve raised for three years now,” he said.
Unlike the SAT, used for college admissions, Kilrea said students never bought into the PARCC test.
“It was not a high-stakes test,” he said. “The students didn’t see what the relevance of the test was.”
Administering the PARCC exam to 1,000 freshmen in 2016 took 13 days at LT. Freshmen enrolled in English I and Algebra I took the test. The test was first required in 2015 when it was administered in District 204 on paper, which resulted in fewer interrupted days. Students in 2016 took the test online with banks of 250 computers that were set up in The Corral at the high school’s south campus. Testing took place from March 30 through April 15.
Kilrea said it was a significant loss of instructional time.
“The amount of instructional time that was lost – I don’t even have a word for it,” he said.
The timing of the test also interfered with other important work that occurred around the same time, including finals and Advanced Placement tests.
Kilrea said the SAT test will likely be administered around the same time as the PARCC, but he expects the testing will take only one to two days.
“Accountability is important. But we also want something that’s user-friendly,” he said.
Bruce Law, superintendent of Hinsdale High School District 86, also was glad the PARCC tests were eliminated.
“The state made the right decision,” Law said.
District 86 administrators prefer the SAT, even to the ACT, because the test is more closely aligned with the Common Core standards and thus is a better measure of the strength of their instructional programs. It also provides data the district can compare with national averages and year over year growth, Law said.
There were too many discrepancies with the PARCC, such as students who took it using paper and pencil had higher scores than those who took it on the computer.
“Why is that?” Law asked. “We don’t know.” So how can schools compare themselves to other schools, “which seems to be a favorite sport,” Law said, or compare their own scores from year to year, if one year they administer paper tests and the next year all the students are tested on computers and the method of testing affects the results.
He appreciates that state officials recognized the concerns educators had about PARCC’s reliability, the need to have enough computers to test students, and the loss of instructional time for testing, and reversed course on PARCC.
“We have a simple and better solution at hand, and it’s the SAT,” Law said.
Charles Sprandel, director of Research, Assessment and Quality Analysis for Elmhurst Unit District 205, which includes York High School, also appreciates the announcement by the Illinois State Board of Education.
“We’ve been asking for something like this for over a year, and it’s nice the state board listened,” Sprandel said. “This is absolutely a positive thing, primarily because of the time we get back for instruction. “And students can see the value in the SAT, which was not the case with PARCC.”
Chicago Tribune reporter Diane Rado contributed to this story.
