Former BOE president: Don’t use PARCC tests as exit exam for grads

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Former Bloomfield Board of Education President Dan Anderson disagrees with the recent proposal by the NJ Department of Education that would require PARCC tests as the overriding factor in whether a student should graduate from high school or not. Anderson is still a member of the school board.

In a May press release, the NJ DOE proposed changes which would require high school seniors, starting in 2121, to pass a grade 10 English language PARCC test and an algebra I PARCC test. In the event a student were to fail either test, an appeal to graduate could be made only through a portfolio. According to Sandra Searing, the Bloomfield School District assistant superintendent of curriculum, a portfolio is an alternate assessment of collected student work. It would be completed in the school and sent to PARCC for grading.
Test requirements for the most recent high school graduating class in New Jersey, 2016, included at least 10 alternative tests for both English and math proficiency. PARCC tests were among the alternatives but not required.

“We should think about getting rid of the existing exams for high school students,” Anderson said in a recent telephone interview. “The course work should be sufficient.”

He said a standardized test was not a good judge of a student’s basic skills and having a high school graduation depending on it was a disaster.

“It’s a flawed test to begin with,” he said. “It’s scored on a bell curve. Most people fall in the middle.”

In the year 2020, high school seniors will be given three PARCC tests in language and math. In each category, each test must be passed. If any are not passed, the student has eight alternative tests to chose from to fulfill graduation requirements. The big change comes the following year, in 2121, when there are no alternative routes to graduation except a portfolio assessment. In Bloomfield, students who are now entering the seventh-grade at Bloomfield Middle School will be graduating in 2121.

As board president, Anderson advocated against PARCC standardized tests and wrote a resolution supporting parents whose children refused to take them. The resolution was passed. According to Anderson, a former Bloomfield School District music teacher, it was the first resolution in the state opposed to PARCC tests and other school boards followed.

He said the DOE determines what scores are passing and failing after the PARCC test is given. This is called the “cut” score. Anderson feels graduation should not be determined by something so arbitrary.
“We’re the only state talking about using PARCC as an exit exam,” he said.

Anderson said local school boards should be vocal in their opposition to the requirement. Bloomfield board passed a resolution opposing the requirement, he said.

“The New Jersey School Board Association said there should be multiple test choices for graduation,” he said. “And usually the association parrots the state DOE.”

Anderson hopes a new governor will overturn any decisions to make passing one test mandatory for high school graduation.”
“A portfolio assessment is a huge undertaking,” he said of a student’s alternative.