The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, is an assessment in mathematics and English language arts/literacy annually administered to DCPS students to measure student progress. Despite good intentions, not many students put forth their best effort while completing the exam, and teachers are unable to help their students in the areas they need to improve. 

Is PARCC testing a waste of time?

One sophomore at Jackson Reed High School said, “I rushed through it, it doesn’t really matter.” PARCC testing does not impact a student’s transcript or grades. It only serves to give students the idea that they can rush through and avoid putting in any effort. It also  takes away valuable classroom time from students.

As noted in Forbes Magazine on April 24, 2019, “By the time test scores come back, these students will be in a different teacher’s classroom…new students arrive with their own test scores, but their new teachers have no first-hand knowledge of how instruction went last year.” PARCC testing is both inefficient for students and teachers; teachers are unable to help their students improve in certain subjects because the students have already completed the class by the time the test results are available. 

There are incentives for students to complete PARCC at Jackson Reed. For example, sophomores are granted off-campus lunch after completing testing and meeting other requirements such as maintaining a GPA above 3.0. Nonetheless, this incentive is not based on test performance so students are able to sprint through the test and receive the credit regardless of their score.

One of the main uses of PARCC scores is to measure teachers’ performance and effectiveness throughout the school year. A test that few students take seriously is not the best way to measure a teacher’s progress. A more effective alternative is to survey students so they can critique their teachers. Although we already have these surveys, they can also receive little student effort. Making a bigger deal about the survey could provoke more meaningful and thoughtful responses.  Alternatively, teacher effectiveness could be measured by the student’s grades and performance in class.

DCPS needs to make drastic changes to PARCC testing or remove it altogether. No one takes it seriously, students can’t receive the help they need, and teachers do not get properly evaluated. PARCC testing has been ineffective for teachers and a waste of time for students. While it is important to measure the effectiveness of teachers and track student progress, there are better ways to do it.