Massachusetts Releases Statewide PARCC Results - Computer and Paper/Pencil

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released statewide results for students who took PARCC in spring 2015.

While the results are similar to the preliminary results from computerized PARCC tests released in September, these results also include scores of students who took PARCC using a paper and pencil format.

As part of the state’s two-year test drive of PARCC, districts chose whether to give PARCC or MCAS in spring 2015, with the exception of the 10th grade MCAS, which remains a graduation requirement through at least the class of 2019 and was administered in all high schools.

Approximately 59 percent of the Massachusetts students who took PARCC did so on a computer, and 41 percent used paper and pencil.

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is expected to vote on Nov. 17 on whether to adopt PARCC for English language arts and mathematics.

“These statewide PARCC scores will help establish a baseline for comparison with other PARCC states and with our own progress over time should the board choose to adopt PARCC within our statewide assessment,” said Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester, in a press release. “I look forward to sharing district and school results later this fall.”

The statewide PARCC results showed that in most grades and subjects, students who took PARCC math and English language arts tests were less likely to score in the “meeting expectations” range than MCAS students were to score Proficient or above.

The exception was in grade 4, where the percent of students who scored in the “meeting expectations” range on PARCC test and the percent of students who scored Proficient or above on MCAS were the same for math.

In English language arts, a higher percentage of fourth graders scored in the “meeting expectations” range on PARCC than scored Proficient or above on MCAS.

The high school PARCC results are not representative of the state as a whole.

Relatively few Massachusetts high schools volunteered to give PARCC tests in grades 9 and 11, because of the 10th grade MCAS requirement.

When Massachusetts first gave MCAS in 1998, the percent of students statewide who scored proficient and above ranged from 20 to 55 percent, but in most grades and subjects it was less than 40 percent, said a press release from the state.