Sandra Stotsky, NAS board member and leading critic of the Common Core State Standards, is asking members of the NAS to review a standardized test aligned with the Common Core.
The test, administered by PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers), has an English Language Arts/Literacy section and a Mathematics section.
Specifically, Dr. Stotsky is looking for NAS members to review the math practice tests to understand their format and the mental processes they ask of students. She is also interested in hearing thoughts on the “Part B” questions in the English practice tests. She writes:
I would like to see NAS members think about what PART B is asking a child to do, and if they think that is a legitimate question on a reading test. In many cases, it's not quite "justify your answer in Part A." It often asks kids to find the words/phrases/sentences that their comprehension or understanding of the selection was based on (if Part A, e.g., asked them the meaning of a particular word or sentence), which I think is different from asking kids to provide evidence (something in the text) that supports a claim or an interpretation. Asking kids to reflect on how they understand something (an epistemological question) is not identical to asking them what evidence in the text they used to make a claim (if indeed they made one) or to asking them what evidence in the text supports what the author of the text claims to be doing or saying.
Those who review the test and have comments can send them directly to Sandra Stotsky at [email protected]. She will synthesize the comments she receives but not identify individuals.
The nature of the actual test questions are still unknown, but the practice tests may be found on PARCC’s website here.
Sandra Stotsky recently published an article about the PARCC tests in which she outlined her recommendations to the state of Massachusetts. The article also embeds a video of her oral testimony before the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education at the public hearing at Bridgewater State University on June 10, 2015.
Image: nydailynew.com
