Eastern Regional Board of Education expresses PARCC exam concerns
Also, among the 2,200 students, there were only eight substance abuse violations in the 2016–2017 school year.
At its Sept. 27 meeting, the Eastern Regional Board of Education reflected on the 2017 PARCC results.
Administered by the state Department of Education, this is the first school year in which incoming freshmen must pass both Algebra 1 and English 10 PARCC exams by the end of their high school career to graduate. Even if students pass Algebra 1 and English 10 courses, they will not be eligible for graduation without passing the PARCC exams.
Currently, there are three graduation requirements for the classes of 2019, 2020 and 2021, as the idea was to gradually ease rising students into the PARCC process.
Sophomores must take all six PARCC exams to be eligible for the alternative portfolio process, which involves completing an intensive class their final semester, encompassing PARCC-like assessments. Only present juniors are entirely allowed to take alternative assessments, such as the PSATS, for graduation qualification.
This is evident in PARCC participation, as 489 freshmen took the exams in 2017, compared to 81 juniors, as most of them already met graduation requirements through other methods.
In 2016, only four of the 483 students who met graduation requirements at Eastern Regional passed both the English and math PARCC exams. However, this figure greatly increased in 2017, as 103 of the 516 graduating students met the PARCC requirements.
Aside from Eastern Regional, students across the state are struggling to meet the PARCC requirements.
In 2017, only 28 percent of the eighth-grade students who took standard mathematics, instead of algebra, passed the PARCC exams throughout the state. Therefore, 72 percent of students entering ninth-grade Algebra 1 could not pass basic eighth-grade math.
However, 177 students in Berlin, Voorhees and Gibbsboro, all of whom filter into Eastern Regional, took the Algebra 1 assessment in eighth grade. Some 92 percent of them scored at a level 4 or 5, compared to 40 percent for statewide ninth-grade students.
“It’s going to very interesting. We’ve created a graduation requirement in which more than 60 percent of the state’s students cannot pass,” said Robert Cloutier, Eastern Regional’s director of curriculum, instruction and professional development.
But, despite the difficult-to-understand assessments, Eastern Regional has made some steady improvements.
From 2015 to 2017, the number of Eastern Regional sophomores who scored a level 1 or 2 in English Language Arts/Literacy decreased by 18.7 percent, while statewide this figure only fell by 8.8 percent. Similar trends were apparent in both ninth- and 11th-grade ELA.
However, in mathematics, Eastern Regional only outperformed the state in three out of six areas. From 2015 to 2017, the number of Algebra 1 students who scored a level 4 or 5 increased by 5.4 percent, but Eastern students in the same category only improved by .6 percent.
“I’m concerned about our teaching, but is anyone looking at the tests? Is the test doing what it’s supposed to do if 60 percent of the kids failed?” board member Richard Teichman asked.
As the gubernatorial election grows nearer, the requirements could alter, as Democratic candidate Phil Murphy plans to end the state’s reliance on PARCC tests as a requirement for graduation, according to his campaign platform.
In other news:
• During the 2016–2017 school year, 29 incidents of violence, vandalism, weapons violations, substance abuse violations and confirmed HIB violations were reported.
Of the eight substance violations, three encompassed possession, while the other five were confirmed uses. One student tested positive for alcohol, and the other four for marijuana.
The only weapons violation, which occurred in the fall semester, involved a knife.
There were three confirmed reports of harassment, intimidation and bullying.
The Scholar of the Month
The award was given to senior Bhavin Doshi. Doshi takes a number of AP classes. He is the vice president of the DECA club. Doshi has been on the distinguished honor roll every marking period since he’s been at Eastern Regional. He is a member of National Honor Society and the Spanish Honor Society. He aims to go to top business schools.
