JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Even though Gabriel is only in first grade his mom, Chimere Nievespellot, already has testing on her mind.
"It certainly does concern me,” Nievespellot said.
And soon, that test is changing from the FCAT to the PARCC. The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is the new statewide assessment for students set to take effect in the 2014-15 school year.
But parents listen up, your kids will definitely notice the difference.
This week, PARCC released documents showing its tests will take much more time than the FCAT to administer. The release says schools must prepare for a maximum of 20 days for the Performance Based Assessment (PBA) component and another 20 days for the End of Year assessment component.
"They're definitely going to lose more time. I mean we're looking at taking time from the classroom to do additional testing,” said Colleen Wood, the founder of 50th No More.
On top of the amount of days, PARCC said its tests will last eight-10 hours.
"Eight hours,” Nievespellot exclaimed.”That's a work shift. That's an extreme amount of time. I just don't know if that's as effective as it could be."
"They're third-graders. That's a lot of testing, that's a lot of seat time, for them to be focused on something that's so high stakes,” Wood said.
It has Wood and parents alike wondering if maybe the state should reconsider.
"I think we really need to say is PARCC the right consortium for Florida? Do we want to do this one test at the end of the year or is there a better way,” asked Wood.
"I’m not the one to judge, but I certainly think there could be a better approach to it,” said Nievespellot.
PARCC will be taken entirely on a computer.
The Department of Education says it is still working with districts, other states, and test developers to determine the cost.
