Sent in by District 202

District 202 students’ scores on the first official PARCC state standardized assessment exceeded state averages at every grade except high school.

Overall, about 41 percent of District 202 students met new English Language Arts learning expectations, and about 34 percent met new math learning expectations on the first official

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exam.

The PARCC was given last spring to all 3-8^th graders and high school students in certain courses. Preliminary results from the spring administration were released to the public on December 11, 2015.

The PARCC measures students’ progress in meeting the Common Core learning standards for English Language Arts (ELA) and math.

PARCC replaces the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) and Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE) which measured student progress on the old state learning standards as part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The district’s PARCC scores aren’t as high as District 202 has seen under the former state standardized testing system, but they also should not be a surprise or great concern, officials said.

District 202 engaged in a two-year communications initiative to educate parents and taxpayers about the Common Core learning standards, PARCC exam, and what to expect initially.

“The PARCC is one standardized test among a range of assessments we give every year to make sure our students are learning and growing academically,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lane Abrell. “It is one piece of the overall picture of student learning.”

“It’s the first year of a brand new test, assessing brand new standards which are significantly more challenging than what we had under ISAT and Prairie State,” said Glenn Wood, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

“We are treating this first year of PARCC as a baseline and fully expect our scores on the PARCC test will improve with time, just as they did with ISAT and Prairie State,” Wood said.

 The PARCC results are similar to what schools saw in the first years of the ISAT test, with about 40 percent of students meeting expectations, Wood said.

District officials will continue to study the high school achievement and adjust instruction appropriately, Wood said.

The state is allowing local districts to decide when to give the PARCC to high school students. Like many districts statewide, District 202 has already decided to give the PARCC assessment to ninth graders starting next spring, rather than to 11^th graders as was done with the PSAE.

“We believe this will improve assessment continuity, and keep the test relevant for students since freshmen will be familiar with the testing process coming out of 8^th grade, rather than skipping three years before taking the state standardized test again,” Wood said.

Individual student reports will go home the week of January 4, 2016 when classes resume after winter break.