Teacher Survey Recommends PARCC Over MCAS

Ken O’Brien

A group of Massachusetts teachers told the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Tuesday that the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test outperforms the MCAS test, and they recommended the board adopt the new test statewide.

Twenty-three teachers who are participating in the Teach Plus Massachusetts Policy Fellowship presented a report to the board that included feedback from 351 classroom teachers in 74 school districts who looked at the PARCC test. Teach Plus is a national non-profit focused on policy.

State Education Officials Plan To Dump MCAS

Ken O’Brien

from State House News Service

State education officials will decide next fall whether to switch from the old standardized tests to a new model under development around the country, and already policymakers have voiced the need to shift public schools' testing approach.

"Higher ed cannot do what it needs to do unless we change the current system," said Higher Education Commissioner Richard Freeland at an education forum Wednesday morning. He said, "If we don't get it right this time I suspect it is going to be a very long time before we revisit it."

This spring a little more than half the school districts around the state will administer the new Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers while the other half will stick with the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System.