Online PARCC Exams Produces Lower Scores
. Posted in News, Standardized Tests - 0 Comments
It has been revealed that the online PARCC exams produces lower scores than exams taken on paper. This is now raising questions about the validity of these scores as data that represents the state as a whole.
Jeffrey Nellhaus, PARCC’s chief of assessment stated that although this pattern can clearly be seen, it is not indicative of the entire population and that it does not mean it occurred in every school district on every one of the tests. He offers the explanation that the differences in scores could have been a result of the students’ familiarity, or lack thereof, of the system which administered the test.
The sections where the lower scores can be seen are in English/language arts and the more difficult math sections. The difference in scores between students who tested online as opposed to on paper was also observed by Illinois and Maryland when analyzing the results from their PARCC exams. In Illinois, 43% of students who took the test on paper scores proficient or higher as opposed to 36% of students who took the test online.
During the 2014-2015 school year, about 5 million students took the PARCC exam. These exams were taken across 10 states as well as the District of Columbia. Of the 5 million, about 81% took the exam online. PARCC officials are working to discover if the format of the test is the issue or if these scores are a result of other factors such as location.
In addition to this, a big concern is the amount of exposure students have had to computers and technology. Students who come from an advantaged background will likely have been exposed to more technology from a young age, possibly making them more successful when taking an online exam when compared to students from a disadvantaged background.
PARCC officials have stated that they will not be scaling scores from students who took the exam online or altering them in any way. It will be up to the school district’s discretion to place students in reinforcement classrooms, using the PARCC results as a tool if they wish to do so.
Amanda De Moraes
Boston Tutoring Services