Dear Editor:
As a high-school student, I realize that some form of standardized testing is essential, in order to monitor and improve education. However, the newly implemented PARCC, fails to properly assess students, and instead, takes time away from actual learning, confuses students with its online format, and poorly designed questions, as well as unnecessarily drains money from our districts.
We can all agree that preparation for tests is important, but when the whole curriculum and school system stars to revolve around testing, it becomes a problem. It’s nice to learn for the sake of being more educated, but when the PARCC was implemented, teachers began to focus more on preparing for the test, and “you need to know this for the PARCC” became a common phrase that ended many lessons. Instead of actual learning, we are forced to complete practice tests and worksheet for the main purpose of doing well on the PARCC. Also, it takes an additional ten hours to administer the test, which could have been used for actual learning.
There were many technological issues during the PARCC, which took time away from our testing time, and often lost some of the answers we had inputted. The online format not only makes the test unreliable, but it is also makes the test more difficult to take. Scrolling was difficult, and it was also very uncomfortable to type in the work done for math problems, as I, and many other students, prefer to draw pictures to represent work.
Another problem that the PARCC arises is its cost. Pearson charges approximately $30 per student, not including practice material and electronic devices to administer the test. All if the accumulating billions of dollars could have been used for better things. The government does not provide grants to cover these expenses.
Some districts have adopted an opt-out policy that allows students to be exempt from testing, our district has not, and it was threatened that there would be consequences for those who choose not to take the PARCC. As a result, I chose to purposely fail the test to show that I do not support the PARCC, as did many other students. I feel that it is important to at least create an opt-out policy for those that are against the PARCC, that would allow students to simply not take the test, instead of resorting to other measures, such as skipping school, or failing the test.
Thank you for your understanding, and I hope that the PARCC will be completely abolished. However, assuming that that option is not very likely, an opt-out policy should be put in place so student have the choice of not taking the PARCC, which does not benefit students in the least.
Thank You
Alice Limanova
