New Jersey

New, Controversial Standardized Test Starts Monday in New Jersey

There's been a lot of debate over new standardized school tests in New Jersey, but districts began administering them Monday and faced relatively little protest. 

For educators, students and parents of students at New Jersey's roughly 700 traditional public and charter school districts, the new PARCC exam — named for the group that created it, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers — means all sorts of changes.

The test, which is being given in several states as part of the national Common Core curriculum for schools, is being given solely on computers and replaces old standardized exams where students used No. 2 pencils to fill in test sheets.

There are new formats for questions and the results are to be used as a factor in teachers' evaluations.

Statewide, up to 900,000 students in third through 11th grades are to take the exam. A few districts started last month, but most students are being given the tests in March and then again at the end of the school year. Supporters of the exams say they will provide more specific information for teachers and parents, and the tests do more to encourage critical thinking than previous standardized exams.

People who oppose the test say the preparations and the exams themselves take up too much time, the questions don't always make sense and the stakes of the exams add too much pressure for students.

The state Education Department did not report any widespread problems in the first large-scale day of testing, though many schools pushed back testing a day because of weather delays Monday.

The New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, has spoken out against the exams, and groups like Save Our Schools New Jersey are encouraging a boycott.

At northern New Jersey's Livingston School District — from where Republican Gov. Chris Christie graduated in 1980 — district officials say they expect about 1,100 of the 4,100 students in third through 11th grades to skip the test.

District spokeswoman Marilyn Lehren said the district asked parents to tell them by last week if their children would not be participating. Those who are opting out are being moved to other rooms where they can read or do homework while their classmates take the tests. There, fifth-graders and high-school students were given part of the test Monday.

In some districts, objectors will remain in the classrooms with test takers.

The state Assembly's education committee is scheduled to consider a bill Thursday that would make it clear that parents can have their children skip the tests. The bill would also ban so-called sit-and-stare policies for those who do not take them.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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