You may have seen in the news this week that Gov. John Kasich signed legislation Monday night banning use of tests from PARCC. PARCC is the multi-state group that was using the tests developed by Pearson Inc.
Long time readers know that I opted my child OUT of the PARCC tests- a completely unnecessary stress on children across the state.
I hope you did the opt out too- now those guinea pig tests from this past spring are useless in comparing apples to oranges or bananas.
Without a standard to compare against , they are a one off, an anomaly, and, in my opinion and in the opinion of educators across the state, a complete fail. Test results were not to be released until December 2015. I wonder now if these 2015 tests will be graded??
So, that was a waste of taxpayer money, children’s emotions, stressed teachers and hassle all around.
Enter AIR testing in Ohio
But, Common Core is NOT going away any moment soon.
Federal Law demands children be tested against Common Core ideals yearly.
So, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) will give Ohio’s math and English Common Core required tests in 2015-2016, along with the other tests for High School students they previously gave last year.
They promise a shorter test, and a just a single time of testing- instead of two separate stints separated weeks apart. So those are good things.
Tests will be designed in coordination with Ohio Educators- a move much closer to home than the overbearing PARCC failure. Also Good for AIR.
AIR has had issues with their technology in the past, and still has negative marks against them, but not nearly as negative as Pearson’s PARCC.
Will the AIR tests continue on with the unanswerable questions of the PARCC tests? That is a question that is yet to be answered.
My Take Away
At this very moment, the tests, the technology and the teachers are not ready. There are no practice tests, and there is not much understanding as to what to expect.
Will I join Operation Opt Out Ohio (OOOO) in this coming school year? I don’t know.. But the folks at OOOO seem to think that AIR was the worst case scenario in terms of testing partners…
Time will tell.
What do you think?
