PARCC approves accessibility supports

by Derek Spencer

Education Week recently reported on PARCC's approval of accessibility supports and accommodations for English-language learners and students with disabilities.

The supports will include read-aloud accommodations for students with disabilities, which is a point of contention for those who feel that read-aloud support would make the result of a reading comprehension test invalid. Still, this must be welcome news for parents of students with disabilities, as these supports can only benefit their children.

Other accommodations include clarifying test instructions to English-language learners in their native languages and providing American Sign Language translations of assessment text.

How do you feel about read-aloud accommodations on reading comprehension exams? If one student receives support, should that support then be afforded to all students taking the exam to ensure a consistent, normalized testing environment?

Derek Spencer is a Marketing Communications Associate at Prestwick House.

PARCC releases Performance Level Descriptors for ELA/Literacy

by Derek Spencer

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) recently released its "Performance Level Descriptors" for ELA/Literacy in grades 3 – 11. Here are the descriptors for grades 9 – 11:

PARCC ELA/Literacy Performance Level Descriptors

This set of descriptors explains the criteria PARCC will use to score students. It appears that students will be assigned a "performance level" between 2 and 5, with 5 being the highest rating.

PARCC is a consortium of 22 states (plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands) working on new assessments that will adhere to Common Core State Standards requirements. These assessments will be delivered via computer but, unlike the assessments delivered by the Smarter Balanced consortium, will not be computer adaptive.

Tests that are computer adaptive deliver different questions to a student based on that student's response to the previous question. If a student answers a question correctly, the next question will be more difficult (and vice-versa). PARCC's computerized assessments will be more traditional; all students will take the same test.

What do you think about computerized testing? Do you think computerized adaptive testing can work in an ELA setting?

Derek Spencer is a Marketing Communications Associate at Prestwick House.