PARCC It Is for Swampscott Schools in 2016

Swampscott Public Schools students will take PARCC instead of MCAS in 2016.

According to an update from Superintendent Pamela Angelakis, Swampscott schools will administer PARCC instead of MCAS to students in grades three through eight in 2016 ahead of the full state transition to a hybrid MCAS-PARCC combination test in 2017.

Swampscott had the option to continue with MCAS testing for another year or switch to a ”paper and pencil” version or computer-based version of the PARCC test because the district continued ahead with MCAS testing in 2015 instead of opting for PARCC as several district throughout the state did.

Students in Swampscott will take the paper version of PARCC in 2016.

In mid-November, the state board of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education voted to adopt a new, revised MCAS exam (MCAS 2.0) made up of both PARCC test items and locally-developed questions beginning in the spring of 2017. That new test will be administered statewide beginning in spring 2017.

With that decision, the DESE “strongly recommended” that districts go ahead and administer PARCC in 2016 in order to help students and teachers prepare for the full transition to the new test; however, districts who did not administer PARCC in 2015 maintained the option to continue with MCAS testing again.

According to Angelakis, the decision to move ahead with the paper-based PARCC test came about for a variety of reason including that schools administering PARCC will be “held harmless,” meaning they will not be penalized for any negative changes in accountability levels.

For additional rationale and more info, check out Angelakis’ latest update.