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The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Update on PARCC

To:
Members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
From:
Mitchell D. Chester, Ed.D., Commissioner
Date:
March 14, 2014

Beginning on Monday, March 24, 2014, approximately 81,000 Massachusetts students - or about 8 percent of the state's total public school enrollment - will participate in the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) field test. The field test will allow students to experience the new computer-based testing format (for those students who will take the online version instead of the paper-version) before the assessment counts. The field test will also enable us to determine the fairness, validity, and accuracy of test questions - which helps us to build the best test we can.

Districts and schools have been conducting practices this month to prepare for the field test administration. Pearson, the testing contractor for PARCC, as well as Department staff have been providing additional support to schools to answer their questions and help move smoothly through this try-out.

This spring's PARCC field test is comprised of the following two components:

At the Board meeting on March 25, I will provide a further update on PARCC.