With the second round of the PARCC assessments completed, teachers and administrators at BCA are expressing mixed opinions about the test.

Mr. Hathaway, of the BCA English department, feels PARCC has some potential benefits, but some issues as well. He said, “I think that the PARCC assessment is better than the HSPA but I have reservations about the way that the test is being measured.”

“I am absolutely concerned that a lot of teachers started to teach for the test, not teach math as it should be taught.”

When asked what exactly concerned him, Mr. Hathaway replied in regards to the English section, “Over a year ago, I started looking at the test and I started having reservations about the material-is this test really measuring what needs to be measured at this particular level?”

Mr. Lynch of the BCA administration, like Mr. Hathaway, had concerns about PARCC measuring what BCA students are capable of.

If he could, Mr. Hathaway said, he would have had students complete more practice tests. “I thought there were still too many kinks, technically, still too many problems, as evidenced by some schools not being able to handle the technological requirements.”

Mr. Mendelsohn, also of the English department, said, “The actual test is too long and exhaustive.” If he could change the way PARCC was administered, he said, “I don’t think it has to be done every year between 3rd and 11th grade and I would reduce the scale of the test, make it shorter.”

Though the assessment has not influenced the material he is teaching, Mr. Mendelsohn had to adjust his schedule around the schedule of the test. “I’m not averse to the general idea behind PARCC,” he said. In his opinion, it is a “healthy way of establishing broad standards for many schools.”

Mr. Lynch of the BCA administration, like Mr. Hathaway, had concerns about PARCC measuring what BCA students are capable of. If he had the choice whether to administer the test, he replied that he would want to have the ability, “to test students at Bergen County Academies  in a way that would demonstrate if they’ve learned the type of things that students at one of the best high schools should be able to do.”

When further asked whether he felt PARCC accomplished that, Mr. Lynch’s answer was, “It’s a work in progress and I look forward to contributing to the conversation so that PARCC can be a meaningful assessment for BCA students.”

Yet, Mr. Lynch does feel PARCC has opportunity to improve.  “It is a brand new test, and I am not opposed to PARCC per say. At this point, if I had insight to offer, I would say, how can we make this a better means of assessing some of the top students anywhere?”

“PARCC just tires you out. When you get back to class, you’re exhausted and can barely focus.”

As Mr. Hathaway, Mr. Lynch believes PARCC is a step in the right direction, certainly away from HSPA. He said, “I think nationally something like PARCC is necessary because the old tool, HSPA, really has proven to be a poor indicator of whether or not a student is ready for success in college or in a career.”

However, Mr. Lynch also said that an ideal assessment in his eyes should be modeled more on the International Baccalaureate assessments, which a large number of BCA students take. He said, “When IB testing comes around, I love the IB. I think the curriculum is perfect for this school.”

Mr. Lynch concluded, “The state, Pearson, the company that is responsible for creating and administrating the test, they are listening to feedback. As time goes on, we will see the result of feedback of students and teachers.”

The math department, on the other hand, is more concerned with students knowing the actual material on the test and the length of the test.

Mrs. Levit mentioned that she would be alright with one assessment, but she does not comprehend the necessity for two tests over the course of the year. “Secondly, some topics and questions we do not teach and cover on the necessary levels. We will teach them at a later time of the school year and they were probably taught before students came to high school, but they may simply have forgotten them.”

Mrs. Levit added: “I am absolutely concerned that a lot of teachers started to teach for the test, not teach math as it should be taught.” She feels that the best evaluation of students comes from assessments created by the teachers themselves, rather than standardized tests. “My slogan is: trust the teachers. Teachers know their students.”

Mrs. Levit is not the only math teacher who says PARCC sacrifices precious time in class. Dr. Heitzman also agrees that along with having to cover extra topics to prepare students for the assessment, the test affects those preparing for AP and IB exams.

“For AP Calculus AB I did not have to prepare students for a PARCC exam,” said Dr. Heitzman, “but I did lose some class time.  I was very worried about losing more class time the week before the AP Calculus AB exam, but now that the second round of testing has been fit into only two days, it seems this disruption will be minimal.”

On what she would change about PARCC, she added: “This seemed to be a pretty good test, but entering the answers on the computer was very tedious.  It seems a lot of bugs need to be worked out with the text and equation editor as well as with the online calculator.” In addition, Dr. Heitzman said she would like to be more informed on such things such as PARCC graduation requirements.

“I think if students thought that PARCC would make the difference whether they got out of high school or not, it would have been different.”

While she said some standardized assessment is necessary, Dr. Heitzman indicated, “I don’t think the standardized assessment should take up quite so much class time as PARCC does.”

Teachers have furthermore observed how students have reacted to the PARCC as well. Mr. Hathaway said, “I think if students thought that PARCC would make the difference whether they got out of high school or not, the impact would have been different.”

Several teachers agreed that students seem to lack energy following PARCC. As a fellow student Elettra Preosti, freshman AAST,  said, “PARCC just tires you out. When you get back to class, you’re exhausted and can barely focus.”