PARCC is a student assessment created by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers consortium. It is an initiative focused on developing new tests to measure student proficiency levels effectively. The PARCC assessment aligns with common core state standards and is the state student assessment used in New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, and the District of Columbia.

1. WHAT IS PARCC?

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers is a consortium of several states that work together to develop and administer standardized assessments for students. Currently, five states are members of the PARCC initiative and use the standard set of K–12 Mathematics and English assessments developed by the consortium.

2. WHhat subjects does PARCC cover?

PARCC tests will assess students’ proficiency in the English Language Arts and Math standards.

3. HOW LONG ARE PARCC EXAMS?

The PARCC assessment

• For Grades 3-5 requires seven exam sessions (60-90 minutes each), i.e., 4 hours for Math & 3 hours Language Arts
• For Grades 6-11 requires six exam sessions (60-110 minutes each), i.e., three hours for Math & three hours for Language Arts.

4. IS PARCC TEST MANDATORY?

Passing PARCC is not required to advance from one grade to the next. Local schools may use PARCC results as one of many measures to determine class placements, such as gifted or remediation and afterschool programs.

5. IF I REFUSE THE PARCC TESTS FOR MY CHILD, WILL HIS/HER SCHOOL LOSE FUNDING?

No. Your child’s school will not lose state or federal funding because you refuse PARCC. No federal law penalizes schools if parents do not allow their children to take the PARCC tests. However, the US Department of Education has threatened to withhold a small amount of state administrative funding if states did not take action to reduce high stakes test refusal rates.

6. WHAT IS GOOD SCORE FOR PARCC?

PARCC scale scores range from 650 to 850 for all tests. Additionally, PARCC English language arts/literacy reports provide separate scale scores for both Reading and Writing. PARCC Reading scale scores range from 10 to 90 and PARCC Writing scale scores range from 10 to 60.