The PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) is New Jersey’s latest addition to its repertoire of standardized tests. According to PARCCOnline.org, the PARCC is a computer-based test that has been aligned with the highly controversial Common Core Standards.
Districts can choose to opt out of this latest exam, but CHS has chosen to wholeheartedly adapt to it. Starting on Mar. 23, students in grades 9, 10, and 11 have been required to take the PARCC, with no student opt out option available.
The tests that each student must take depends on their classes this semester. For example, if a student is currently taking english and not math, the student will only take the English PARCC assessment.
The Monmouth County Vocational School District appears to be taking the test quite serious, but students are questioning whether or not the PARCC is worth their time and effort.
Matthew Avena, freshman of Middletown, has chosen to disregard the seriousness that the PARCC is meant to have.
“I am not taking PARCC seriously,” says Avena. “If it’s a hard question, I write a sarcastic answer.”
Some students, such as Johnny Callaghan, junior of Wall, tried to take PARCC seriously, but found it difficult.
“I tried to take it seriously because I thought it might help to concentrate on long tests,” said Callaghan. “ … the essays were unnecessary in my opinion … I either criticized the PARCC or didn’t write anything at all.”
On the contrary, Sydney Smith, sophomore from Tinton Falls, is putting a little more effort into PARCC than the majority of her classmates.
“I kind of took [PARCC] seriously because I want the school to have a good image,” says Smith.
When asked if PARCC should be continually implemented, Avena replied with an answer much like that of his classmates.
“I don’t think we should keep PARCC, especially since it crashed our computer systems,” said Avena.
According to students, the PARCC test has its flaws. Instead of writing serious answers, Monmouth County’s best and brightest have taken to sarcasm as a boycott of sorts, in hopes the test will be no more.
