[STATE NAME] State Assessments: What do families need to know? [INSERT DATE]

[STATE NAME] State Assessments:What do families need to know?

[INSERT DATE]

1. What the new state tests mean for your child

2. What your child can expect

3. Ways to support your child

4. How to interpret test results

5. Additional resources for parents

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Overview of Discussion

What the New State Tests Mean

for Your Child

New Statewide Tests

• [STATE NAME] adopted higher, more focused standards–[STATE NAME]’s College and Career-Ready Standards–in 2010 to better prepare students for college, technical schools, and careers.

• Our education system was falling short in developing the critical-thinking and problem-solving skills needed to compete with students from anywhere in the world.

 • New standards require new state tests that better measure these skills and

allow students to show what they know and what they can do.• Example Third Grade Reading Standard: “Determine the main idea of a text;

recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.”

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New Statewide Tests

• Students in grades 3-8 will take the English Language Arts and Mathematics tests. They will be divided into two components that can each be taken online.

Students will take the test in two parts:• Performance-Based Assessment [INSERT TESTING WINDOW]

• Longer multi-step questions, including essays• Hand-scored

• End-of-Year [INSERT TESTING WINDOW]• Short-answer questions and multiple choice• Machine-scored

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What is PARCC?

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers

• A group of states that have worked together to develop high quality tests in English and Math that are aligned to the new standards.

• [STATE NAME] joined PARCC to create a new test aligned to our standards.

• The tests were field-tested in Spring 2014 by 1 million students in 16,000 schools, including [STATE NAME].

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What Do the Tests Measure?

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English

Language Arts

• Whether students can read and understand texts of varying complexities.

• How well students use information from several sources to make a persuasive argument.

• Whether they can write, using what they’ve read and multi-media to support their arguments.

Math

• Whether students can understand and use important math ideas (i.e., number sense, algebraic thinking, geometry, and data analysis).

• How students use math facts and reasoning skills to solve real-world problems.

• How well students can justify their answers using math concepts.

How Do I Know What My Child is Expected to Learn This Year

• The PTA developed grade-specific “Guides to Student Success” so you know the skills your child should master and what he or she is expected to know every year:

www.PTA.org/CommonCore

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What Students Can Expect

What’s Different About the Tests?

The new tests go beyond the “bubble test.”

Students show their work through:

• Extended writing and multi-step questions which require students to apply the skills they have learned.

They measure: • Problem-solving• Writing• Critical thinking• Reading Comprehension

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How Long Will the Tests Take?

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• These tests may take longer:

• Thinking critically, reading deeply, and writing a well-thought response takes more time than simply filling in a bubble.

• Necessary skills to practice and master.

• 4 hours each on the Mathematics and English Language Arts portion of the test:

• One to two tests per day (1-1 ½ hours each test)

• Most students finish in less time

What Will be Different in Math?

Students will:

• Show their work and demonstrate that they understand a concept in addition to memorizing the formula.

• Compute math problems quickly and accurately.

• Know multiple ways to solve problems, allowing them to choose the method that is best.

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EXAMPLE: 5th Grade Math Test

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Previous [STATE NAME] State Assessment Test Example:

The town of La Paz, Bolivia, is in the Andes mountains. Which of these units could be used to describe the distance of the town of La Paz above sea level?

A. Degrees

B. Feet

C. Cubic Inches

D. Pounds

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New [STATE NAME] State Assessment Example: Mr. Edmunds shared 12 pencils among his four sons as follows:• Alan received 1/3 of the pencils• Bill received 1/4 of the pencils• Carl received more than 1 pencil• David received more pencils than Carl

PART A: On the number line, represent the fraction of the total number of pencils that was given to both Alan and Bill combined. Use the buttons on the right to increase or decrease the number of equal sections on the number line.

PART B: What fraction of the total number of pencils did Carl and David each receive? Justify your answer.

EXAMPLE: 5th Grade Math Test

.

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Previous [STATE NAME] State Assessment Example:

Mr. August’s class went to the museum on February 14th and they had an ice-cream party on March 2nd. How many days were there between the museum trip and ice-cream party?

EXAMPLE: 6th Grade Math Test

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New [STATE NAME] State Assessment Example:

Mr. Ruiz is starting a marching band at his school. He first does research and finds the following data about other local marching bands.

PART A: Enter your answer in the blank .

Mr. Ruiz realizes there are ______ brass instrument player(s) per percussion player.

PART B: Mr. Ruiz has 210 students who are interested in joining the marching band. He decides to have 80% of the band be made up of percussion and brass instruments. Use the unit rate you found in Part A to determine how many students should play brass instruments. Show or explain all your steps.

EXAMPLE: 6th Grade Math Test

Band 1 Band 2 Band 3

Number of Brass Instrument Players 123 42 50

Number of Percussion Instrument Players 41 14 50

What Will be Different in English Language Arts?

Students will:

– Show they can read and understand complex passages.

– Use evidence to support their ideas in written responses at every grade level.

– Research a topic and use the findings to make a claim and draw a conclusion.

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EXAMPLE: 5th Grade ELA Test

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Previous [STATE NAME] State Assessment Test Example:

Read the writing prompt below and complete the writing activity:

Jump out of bed! Look out the window! It is a perfect weather day!

Write a story about a day when the weather seemed perfect.

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New [STATE NAME] State Assessment Example:

You have read two texts about famous people in American history who solved a problem by working to make a change.

• Write an article for your school newspaper describing how Eliza and Carver faced challenges to change something in America.

• In your article, be sure to describe in detail why some solutions they tried worked and others did not work.

• Tell how the challenges each one faced were the same and how they were different.

EXAMPLE: 5th Grade ELA Test

.

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Previous [STATE NAME] State Assessment Example:

Going to the movies is a major source of entertainment for many students. Imagine that the only discount movie theater in your area is closing.

Write a persuasive essay in support of keeping the discount movie theater open.

EXAMPLE: 7th Grade ELA Test

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New [STATE NAME] State Assessment Example:

You have read a website entry and an article, and viewed a video describing Amelia Earhart. All three include information that supports the claim that Earhart was a brave, courageous person. The three titles are:• “The Biography of Amelia Earhart”• “Earhart’s Final Resting Place Believed Found”• “Amelia Earhart’s Life and Disappearance” (video)

Consider the argument each author uses to demonstrate Earhart’s bravery. Write an essay that analyzes the strength of the arguments related to Earhart’s bravery in at least two of the three supporting materials. Remember to use textual evidence to support your ideas.

EXAMPLE: 7th Grade ELA Test

Ways to Support Your Student

How Can I Help at Home?

• Take a moment to review a practice test with your child:• http://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/• Talk with your child and reassure him/her that these tests aren’t the kind

you “cram” for, but just measure what they’ve mastered from their classwork.

• Assure your child they have enough time to finish.• Have them read a variety of materials at home, including fiction and

informational texts.• Involve learning in everyday activities. Mix math into cooking or

shopping. Ask children to express opinions and to back their views.

How To Interpret Test Results

What Will Results Look Like?

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New Tests New Baselines

• These upgraded tests are harder.

• With a greater emphasis on deeper learning, we have raised the bar for our students, parents, and teachers.

• This new bar cannot be compared to the old one.• The scores are not higher or lower, just different.

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How Will Scores be Used?

Test results will help schools to:

• Make instructional decisions.

• Determine individual needs of students:

Extra support?

More challenging work?

Recommendations for future classes?

• Scores do not impact GPA, class ranking, or college acceptance.

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Transition Year One: Student Results in the Fall

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• It will take more time to score the performance-based and writing components since it has never been done before.

Transition Year Two: Student Results before Summer

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• Will be able to compare the scores from this year’s to see progress and strengths and weaknesses.

Thank You To Our Teachers

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A Transition:

• Learning the new standards

• Engaging lessons

• Helped develop the PARCC test

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Resources for More Information

Where Can I Find More Info?

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Great Web Sites

• PARCC Practice Tests: Reading, Writing, Math• Tutorials http://parcc.pearson.com/tutorial/ • Practice Tests http://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/• PARCC Info: www.parcconline.org

• Parent Friendly Information and Resources: BeALearningHero.org and Facebook.com/bealearninghero • [STATE NAME] Department of Education: [STATE DOE WEBSITE]• [STATE NAME] State PTA: [STATE PTA WEBSITE]

www.PTA.org/CommonCore

[STATE NAME]’s New State Assessments:

Questions?