PARCC Parent Night

1. PARCC Parent Night PARCC Presentation for Parents of the Woodbridge Township School District January 21, 2015

2. Presenters • Sarah Cice • Supervisor of English 6-12 • District Test Coordinator • Sarah.cice@woodbridge.k12.nj.us • Christopher Callahan • Supervisor of Technology • PARCC Technology Coordinator • Christopher.callahan@woodbridge.k12.nj.us • Catherine Wehrle • Supervisor of Math K-12 • Catherine.wehrle@woodbridge.k12.nj.us

3. Graduation Requirements for Classes of 2016, 2017, and 2018

4. PARCC Testing Window Middle School • PBA—March 2, 2015—March 27, 2015 • EOY—April 27, 2015—May 22, 2015 High School • PBA—March 23, 2015—May 1, 2015 • EOY—May 8, 2015—June 5, 2015

5. A Strong Foundation: The Common Core State Standards • The Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics were created by educators around the nation. • Nearly every state in the nation is working individually and collectively to improve its instruction and assessments to ensure students graduate with the knowledge and skills most demanded by college and careers. • The PARCC assessment rewards this commitment by providing an assessment focused on the instructional shifts and academic skills needed to prepare all students for college and career readiness in the 21st century.

6. How will this change help our students? • The new standards are designed to help students of all ability levels achieve. • They focus on problem solving and critical thinking skills—not just memorizing answers. • How students learn is just as important as what they learn; the CCSS support different learning styles and educational levels.

7. What is PARCC? Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers ● Common assessments aligned with the Common Core Standards ● Educational Testing Services (ETS) is the test developer ● Pearson is the assessment provider ● Content will include English Language Arts and Mathematics

8. 6 Priority Purposes of the PARCC Assessment • Determine whether students are college and career ready or on track • Connect to the Common Core State Standards • Measure the full range of student performance, including that of high- and low-achieving students • Provide educators data throughout the year to inform instruction • Create innovative 21st century, technology-based assessments • Be affordable and sustainable

9. How is PARCC different from NJASK/HSPA NJ ASK/HSPA • Paper/Pencil Test • Students tested once per year • Did not measure critical thinking • Primarily “bubble tests” • Results received after the school year ends PARCC • Computer Based Test • Students tested twice per year • Faster results • Comprehensive Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Tasks • Assess whether students are on track for success in college and careers

10. What are we doing to be prepared? • Readiness Surveys • Preparing the infrastructure: wireless campus, bandwidth • Selecting a device for instruction and assessment • Field testing as a pilot school district for PARCC administration

11. Technology Skills • Use technology to determine student understanding in authentic ways • Drag and drop • Shade text • Cut and paste • Move items • Use of math tools • Online calculators (6-11) • Graphing tools • Type written responses in ELA and Math

12. Out with the old… • 2013-2014 NJASK/HSPA • Grades 3-8 ELA & Math • Grade 11 ELA & Math • 2014-2015 PARCC • Grades 3-8 ELA and Math • Grades 9, 10 & 11 ELA • Math assessed at the end of a course, for example, Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry

13. PARCC Components • Performance Based Assessment (PBA) • Occurs after approximately 75% of year (March) • Language Arts—focus on writing effectively when analyzing text • Math—focus on solving multi-step problems by applying skills and conceptual understanding • End of Year Assessment (EOY) • Occurs after approximately 90% of year (May) • Language Arts—focus on reading comprehension • Math—focus on key content areas and demonstration of fact fluency

14. How much time will the test take?Middle School

15. How much time will the test take?High School

16. English/Language Arts

17. PARCC Design for ELA 1. Complexity: Regular practice with complex text and its academic language. 2. Evidence: Reading and writing grounded in evidence from text, literary and informational. 3. Knowledge: Building knowledge through content rich nonfiction.

18. PARCC Components Types of Questions ➢ Range of Prose Constructed Responses (PCR)- • Elicits evidence that students have understood a text or texts they have read and can communicate that understanding well both in terms of written expression and knowledge of language and conventions. • Writing Task • ➢ Technology-Enhanced Constructed Response (TECR)- • Uses technology to capture student comprehension of texts in authentic ways that have been difficult to score by machine for large scale assessments • drag and drop, cut and paste, shade text, move items to show relationships). ➢ Evidence-Based Selected Response (EBSR) • Combines a traditional selected-response question with a second selected-response question that asks students to show evidence from the text that supports the answer they provided to the first question. Underscores the importance of Reading Anchor Standard 1 for implementation of the CCSS. • Multiple Choice

19. Evidence-Based Selected-Response Item

20. Technology-Enhanced Constructed-Response Item • Drag the words from the word box into the correct locations on the graphic to show the life cycle of a butterfly as described in “How Animals Live.” • Words: Pupa Adult Egg Larva

21. Prose Constructed Response

22. ELA PBA Units • Literary Analysis Task— • The Literature Task plays an important role in honing students’ ability to read complex text closely, a skill that research reveals as the most significant factor differentiating college-ready from non-college-ready readers. This task will ask students to carefully consider literature worthy of close study and compose an analytic essay. • Part A—Reading Passage 1: • Long fiction passage: prose, poem, or drama • Interactive Literacy/Short Answer Questions • Part B—Reading Passage 2: • Short Fiction Passage: prose, poem, or drama (possibly audio or visual) • Interactive Literacy/Short Answer Questions • Part C—Literary Analysis writing task • Long Passages—Middle School=1000 words or less High School= 1500 words or less Short Passages—400 words or less

23. Example #2: Literary Analysis Task-Prose Constructed Response Example: Using what you have learned from reading the “Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, and the excerpt from the chapter, “The Dragon Wakes” by Laurence Yep, write an essay that provides an analysis of how choice is treated in the two texts. As a starting point, you may want to consider what is emphasized, absent, or different in the two texts, but feel free to develop your own focus for analysis. Students will develop the essay by providing textual evidence from both texts. (Fare, 2014)

24. ELA PBA Units • Narrative Task • The Narrative Task broadens the way in which students may use this type of writing. Narrative writing can be used to convey experiences or events, real or imaginary. In this task, students may be asked to write a story, detail a scientific process, write a historical account of important figures, or to describe an account of events, scenes or objects, for example. • Part A—Reading Passage 1: • Short or long fiction or non-fiction passage, text or audio or video, or a combination of both • Interactive Literacy/Short Answer Questions • Part B—Narrative writing task • Long Passages—Middle School=1000 words or less High School= 1500 words or less -Short Passages—400 words or less

25. Narrative Writing Task-Prose Constructed Response Example: (from the introduction to the short story “Eleven,” by Sandra Cisneros.) In the above excerpt, the author develops an interesting situation where the narrator, Rachel, is discussing her feelings about her eleventh birthday. Think about the narrator’s current situation regarding the sweater, her hesitation, along with the details surrounding this classroom environment. Write an original story to continue where the passage ends. In your story, be sure to use what you have learned about the character of Rachel as you tell what happens next. (Fare, 2014)

26. ELA PBA Units • Research Simulation Task • In this task, students will analyze an informational topic presented through several articles or multimedia stimuli, the first text being an anchor text that introduces the topic. Students will engage with the texts by answering a series of questions and synthesizing information from multiple sources in order to write two analytic essays. • Part A—Reading Passage 1: • Long nonfiction Passage: article, speech, argument, opinion, biography, court case • Interactive Literacy/Short Answer Questions • Part B—Reading Passage 2: • Short nonfiction Passage: article, speech, argument, opinion, biography, court case • Interactive Literacy/Short Answer Questions • Part C—Reading Passage 3: • Short non-fiction text or video or audio clip • Interactive Literacy/Short Answer Questions • Part D—Research Simulation writing task • Long Passages—Middle School=1000 words or less High School= 1500 words or less Short Passages—400 words or less

27. The Prose Constructed Research Simulation Task Example: You have read three texts about ocean exploration. All three discuss challenges faced by ocean explorers. The three texts are: • “Oceans: Earth’s Final Frontier” • “Dive Technology” • “Lights, Cameras, Invention!” Think about the information the authors provide to show how explorers are improving exploration under water. Write an essay that describes challenges that explorers face in at least two of the texts. Tell how they can overcome those challenges through the use of underwater technology. Remember to use textual evidence to support your ideas. (McGraw-Hill, 2014)

28. ELA EOY Units • On the end-of-year assessment, students have the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to read and comprehend complex informational and literary texts. Questions will be sequenced in a way that they will draw students into deeper encounters with the texts and will result in more thorough comprehension of the concepts.

29. Mathematics

30. Mathematics The 3 CCSS Shifts in Assessment • Focus: The PARCC assessment will focus strongly where the Standards focus. • Coherence: Think across grades and link to major topics within grades. • Rigor: In major topics, pursue conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application

31. Common Core – New Questions • A bat and ball cost $1.10. • The bat costs one dollar more than the ball. • How much does the ball cost? • You probably answered 10¢. If the ball costs 10 ¢, then the total cost will be $1.20 (10¢ for the ball and $1.10 for the bat), not $1.10. • The correct answer is 5¢. (5¢ for the ball and $1.05 for the bat), for a total of $1.10.

32. Math Question Types Type 1: Tasks assessing “concepts, skills and procedures” • A mix of conceptual understanding, fluency, and application • Machine Scorable • On PBA and EOY Type 2: Tasks assessing expressing mathematical reasoning” • Written arguments/justifications, critique, and precision. • Mix of machine scored and hand scored. • On PBA Type 3: “modeling/applications” • Modeling/application in a real-world context or scenario and precision. • Mix of machine scored and hand scored. • On PBA

33. PARCC Assessment Design - Math • •Math Reference Sheet Given • •Scrap paper & pencils allowed • Calculator Policy • Grades 6-7—Four function with Square Root and Percentage Functions • Grade 8—Scientific Calculator • Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II—Graphing Calculator

34. PARCC Video

35. Sample PARCC Layout • PARCC Sample Questions:

36. ACCOMMODATIONS FOR ALL STUDENTS •Accessibility Features for All Students •Blank Paper (provided by test administrator) •Eliminate Answer Choices •Flag Items for Review •General Administration Directions Clarified (by test administrator) •General Administration Directions Read Aloud and Repeated (by test administrator) •Highlight Tool •Headphones •Magnification/Enlargement Device •Notepad •Pop-Up Glossary •Redirect Student to Test (by test administrator) •Spell Checker •Writing Tools

37. Scoring: How is PARCC different? NJASK/HSPA • 3 levels • Scale of 100-300 • Basic data • Received in the Fall of next year • Ceiling Score PARCC • 5 levels • Scale of 1-5 • Rich data • Year 1 receive in Fall of next year • Years after receive by June of current year • Score beyond grade level

38. Scoring • 2 Tests (PBA and EOY) • Receive one score for Math and one score for ELA

39. PARCC Results Will be Used … • To assist teachers in supporting students • To inform parents and students on progress towards “on track” college and career readiness • To inform schools and districts on curricula, instructional and professional development needs • By NJ’s college and universities as one of the indicators of a student’s readiness for entry-level, credit-bearing college courses

40. PARCC Results Will Not Be Used… • To impact student’s grades • To retain students • As measure for placement in various programs

41. Parent actions which support student preparation • Support students with homework • Encourage your children to read • Expose to literature and making connections • Practice automaticity of math facts • Encourage problem solving in multiple ways • Explain the process for problem solving • Listen to students justify their answers • Practice typing • Use technology tools: drag and drop, slide, cut/copy/paste • Expose your children to different kinds of texts: stories, newspapers, magazines, biographies, science/history • Talk with your child about what they read • Practice fluency with math facts • Encourage your child to justify their reasoning

42. Parent Resources • www.parcconline.org • www.parcconline.org/samples/item-task-prototypes • www.corestandards.org • www.achievethecore.org • www.njcore.org • http://parccgames.com • www.ccsstoolbox.agilemind.com/parcc/PARCCprototypemain.html • www.state.nj.us/education/cces/AchieveResources.htm. • http://www.ccsstoolbox.com/parcc/PARCCPrototype_main.html