Standardized test falls short in targeting skill to be assessed

Standardized test falls short in targeting skill to be assessed

As a volunteer at Taft Ele- mentary School, I recently had the opportunity to review a math assessment test that the fourth-grade class will be taking soon. The test was prepared by Partnership of Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. I took the test and scored very well, but then I’m a 63-year-old college graduate.

The class was given a sample problem from the PARCC practice test to get familiar with the test. Here are results to that sample problem: Two students would have received some partial credit, the rest of the class would have gotten zero credit.

The PARCC test is supposed to be a math assessment test, but the problems on it are predominately story problems that require as much reading and reading comprehension skill as math knowledge. Children, even those with good math skills, will score very poorly on this test if they’re not good at reading and comprehending.

When the PARCC test is graded, how does the grader assess whether the child can’t read, doesn’t understand what they read, or just can’t do the math?

Assuming that state and(or) federal assessment tests are to be of any value, they need to target the skill that’s being assessed.

Kudos to Youngstown Mayor John McNally for correctly identifying parental involvement as the single most important ingredient in improving student achievement.

Joe Parsons, Youngstown