PARCC…AIR…MAP…Can You Just Tell Me What Tests My Kids Are Taking and Why?

So last year, there was quite a bit of media coverage and unhappiness over students being required to take a standardized test called the PARCC test. This test was required by the state. It was a one day test and it was a pass or fail situation. This test had no real impact on the students’ actual grades and was used primarily as a means of grading the district as a whole.

Here’s the problem…

After one year, the state decided that the outrage from parents and educators across the state was legitimate. The test was too long and created an unfair assessment. So even though the PARCC was all you heard about last year, it is no longer.

Now, the state has issued a new standardized test called the AIR test. This test is similar to the PARCC but takes less time. Students take this test one time in the spring. Once again, the results of the test do not impact the students’ grades in school. The results are used to grade the district as a whole.

While your personal feelings on standardized testing may vary, here is the problem with one-time test results. If a child is having a bad day, they may not perform well on the test. There is no retake. There is no postponing it if a child is sick or going through personal turmoil. This test assesses the student’s academic ability based on a one-time measure.

As educators and parents know, learning is not about what you know in a single moment, it is about how you’ve grown over the course of a school year. That is why our district has the students in grades kindergarten through 8^th grade take the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test.

The MAP test is administered three times throughout the school year and allows us to track and measure your child’s learning development from month to month and from year to year. This test shows progression, it alerts educators if a student needs more help in a specific area, and it provides parents with feedback on their child’s learning.

The MAP test does not impact the students’ grades, it does not impact the district’s rating, and it is not required by the state. We choose to administer the MAP test because we want to do everything we can to help our students learn and achieve academically.

We understand that learning is a process. We understand that sometimes students can excel in one subject but not in another, and we believe that monitoring their learning over the course of the year provides both educators and parents with the ability to help the students reach their full potential. 

If you ever have questions about your child's testing, please don't hesitate to ask.