Walking Through the PARCC

Now that Massachusetts has adopted the Common Core Standards, what’s next? What is going to happen to the MCAS? I have had many teachers and parents ask me this question for the past few months. Now the picture is starting to become clearer…

Massachusetts is governing state in a new initiative known as the PARCC (Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness in College and Careers), a state-led assessment consortium with 11 governing states and 26 member states (see above graphic) all together. In fact, Massachusetts’ Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, Mitchell Chester, is the chair of the committee of governing states. The U.S. Department of Education awarded some $170 million in Race to the Top funds to the PARCC for the development of a K-12 assessment system aligned to the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics.

The emphasis of the PARCC will be beyond the 10th grade MCAS, which establishes minimum competency in ELA and math. PARCC’s goal is to dramatically increase the number of students graduating from high school college-and career-ready by creating a next generation assessment system to help meet that goal. PARCC states are committed to building an assessment system that is internationally benchmarked and anchored in what it takes to be college- and career-ready; scoring “proficient” on the assessments will mean students are on track for the next steps in their education, including postsecondary education and training after high school. Thus, with the PARCC parents will receive results that state how well their child is progressing toward college readiness.

Administered in every grade from 3 to 11, the PARCC will be designed to test students' ability to read complex text, solve complex problems, complete research projects, excel at classroom speaking and listening assignments, and work with digital media. PARCC will also replace the one end-of-year high stakes accountability test with a series of assessments at key points throughout the school year. (For a schematic of that schedule, click here.) The mindset behind this is two-fold: 1) to reduce the weight given to a single assessment given over a day or two, and 2) to incorporate more formative assessment, i.e., giving teachers more ability to access useful information on how well their students are learning. So the turn around time of the PARCC results is shortened, students in the middle and high schools will take these shorter but more periodic assessments online.

Some timelines that have been established for districts: 2012- all ELA and mathematics curriculum should be aligned with the Common Core Standards, and the 2014-15 school year- the administering of the PARCC in Massachusetts and all consortium states. The consortium plans to start the piloting the PARCC during the 2012-13, but it has not yet been determined in which states and with which grade levels. Seeing that Commissioner Chester is chairing the governing states, it wouldn't exactly be shocking to see a pilot in several districts or perhaps even statewide during the 2012-13 school year.

Much work lies ahead for us at MHS. It will be challenging but also exciting, as it all has implications for improving our curriculum, our assessments, and how we design and deliver them. More on this to come...

Beyond the Lab Report

First off, Happy New Year! May 2011 be a year filled with happiness, good health, and prosperity for you and your family!

I'd like to highlight some of the fine work that is presently being done by members of the MHS Science and English Departments. Their interdisciplinary collaboration is so timely and relevant that they had the opportunity to present it at the annual National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) National Convention in Baltimore a few weeks ago.

Here's the rub: Most science educators will tell you that the biology MCAS test is largely a reading and writing test. To be sure, students must have content knowledge. However, equally important is the ability to critically read a passage, analyze the facts, and then structure a reasonable written argument based upon analysis for an open response test item. Thus, the challenge is to ensure that all students have sufficient opportunities in their coursework to engage with this type of writing.

With this mindset, science department chair Janet Hogan started to brainstorm with her colleague, English teacher Bill Sheehan. Bill, who teaches AP Language and Composition, is particularly passionate about the teaching of writing. He teaches his students the classic rhetorical triangle (pictured above) as the framework for structuring a written argument. Simply put, a rhetorical analysis is a written explanation about how a writer attempts to change the mind of his or her audience. An effective rhetorical analysis demonstrates a full understanding of the interplay of the rhetorical triangle. The writer must be cognizant of the purpose, audience, and most effective strategy to be employed to convince the audience of his/her argument. As Janet Hogan points out, "This is the perfect model for the type of writing we need to be asking kids to do- where they have to defend the way you think, as you must present your data to back up your thoughts."

Thus the science department has set out to create more assessments where the writing goes beyond the typical lab report and the rhetorical analysis is employed. With these new assignments, the teachers are aiming to cultivate students' higher order thinking skills where they explore, analyze, and evaluate concepts. Furthermore, the required writing demands that they apply the new skills and concepts in other contexts.

For example, in Debbie Fournier's biology classes, students perform a classic lab on dialysis where a plastic bag containing glucose and starch is placed in a beaker of distilled water and Lugol's solution. Students get their data, then apply their understanding in a writing assignment where they must write a letter to a local grocery store and make an argument about things such as produce bags and fold-top sandwich bags: do they have integrity and can they keep our food safe?

As another example, in Anne Carroll's classes the students read the work The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Sloot. The recent work tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, an an African-American woman who 60 years ago was the unwitting donor of cells from her cancerous tumor, which were cultured to create an immortal cell line for medical research, research that has saved thousands of lives. This topic creates a rich forum for students to argue the bioethics of this situation. Again, the rhetorical analysis method is used, where students in groups start by brainstorming interests, experiences, previous knowledge and questions. They rank the list according to interest, expand the list to two or three topics, expand each topic by listing knowledge, terms to be defined, questions about topic, contrary opinions, journalist’s questions, causes and effects, etc. and then research by reading, generating questions, finding answers, generating new questions, synthesizing and developing a position.

The science department will be working to implement this type of writing not only in biology classes but in all classes. It is certainly timely work as the newly adopted Common Core Standards in English language arts detail specific literacy skills that all students in grades 6-12 should possess as a result of their study in other core subjects such as science and social studies. In other words, the teaching of reading and writing should not solely be the responsibility of English teachers: it should be taught and reinforced across the curriculum.

This work is challenging, but the science department is off to a great start!

MA Scores $250 M in Race To The Top.... What Does It Mean?

Last week came the monumental news that the Commonwealth was one of the 12 recipients of the federal government's Race to the Top competition. Largely based upon total student population, Massachusetts was awarded $250 million by the US Department of Education. This is certainly great news.... but to be clear, by no means is this extra money for the operating expenses of cash-strapped districts. Rather, it is an infusion of funds for a four-year period to help accelerate the reforms envisioned by the Obama administration.

As the Massachusetts RTTT application indicates, the vision of the use of the funds is clearly aligned with the RTTT Program priorities: improving standards and assessments, improving teacher and principal quality, improving data systems that support instruction, and support to turn around failing schools. While implementing the four "turnaround" strategies is important for schools with chronic failure as measured by poor MCAS scores, poor graduation & attendance rates, etc., I honestly don't believe that aspect of the grant will affect our world that much in Mansfield. Here are the areas in which I believe it will:

1. Along with 34 other states and the District of Columbia, Massachusetts has adopted the Common Core Standards in English Language Arts and mathematics. This set of rigorous standards will replace the MA Curriculum Frameworks which have been in place since the early 1990's. While the new standards are very closely aligned with the existing MA standards, some curricular adjustments will need to be made in various grade levels. The grant calls for the provision of numerous curriculum maps and resources to help teachers with this change. Also, we can anticipate that the MCAS in ELA and mathematics will change, as a new state assessment (one that is computer-based) will commence in 2014 or 2015. Needless to say, there has been considerable political debate about this potential move.

2. Massachusetts' already rich education data warehouse will become more user-friendly, providing a wealth of information on student performance for teachers. However, accountability will take a quantum leap forward as the Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (DESE) will require all districts to provide student schedules and teacher names for the data warehouse database. The intent is to link student performance and growth on MCAS with individual teachers and classrooms. For teachers who do not teach MCAS-tested subjects, the grant calls for the creation and implementation of benchmark assessments to be given at all grade levels. Similar to MCAS results, student performance on these assessments would be tracked back to individual teachers.

3. The RTTT grant also will provide for a new teacher and principal evaluation framework that will help both have clearer standards of performance. A huge change here is the provision that student performance (as measured by MCAS results, benchmark assesssment results, MCAS growth factor, etc.) should be a significant portion of the criteria by which teacher and principal effectiveness is evaluated. Needless to say, the is an enormous shift!!

It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out in the coming year. Of the grant, $125 million is staying at DESE to develop these structures. The other half will be dispersed to the districts who signed on to RTTT vis-a-vis Title I eligibility. This money very much will have strings attached, as the expectation will be to have completed targets in the above strategic areas. To see this work through will take a tremendous amount of time and effort, but I believe that it is the next step in the standards and accountability evolution.