Everything you need to be prepared for PARCC testing

It’s hard to believe that PARCC testing is right on the horizon. We know that testing season can be an extremely stressful time for teachers and administrators. With taking steps to ensure that your students are ready and getting yourself ready, it can feel overwhelming! We are hoping to help lighten the load (if even just a little) and give you all the best PARCC testing resources we could get out hands on in one easy location.

Resources from the PARCC assessments to get you started:

• Released Items and Materials – searchable by subjects and grade level
• Model Content Frameworks – resources meant to be used as a companion to the Common Core State Standards to help educators and those developing aligned curricula and instructional materials
• Parent Resources – designed to help parents understand testing

State Specific PARCC Resources:

• District of Columbia
• Illinois
• Maryland
• New Mexico

What do you need to know about the PARCC tests?

In recent years, there have been some positive changes to the tests: they’re shorter (which provides more time for instruction!), easier for schools to administer, and computer adaptable. Also, students will be faced with various types of technology-enhanced (TE) item types. Make sure that students are familiar with these various categories of TE item types. For more information on each item type, check out this blog post.

Tips & Tricks for Testing Success

It’s safe to say that testing means something a little different to everybody. For teachers and administrators, testing procedures and academic understanding come first. For parents and students, trying to calm those testing nerves might be priority number one. In any case, we’ve organized testing tips and tricks for the many different groups who have testing on the brain.

For District Administrators

There comes a point when a district has done all it can to prepare students for end-of-year testing, but that time isn’t the morning before the test. There are many things district personnel can do right up until test day to ensure that students have the best chance of success. Check out these 8 last minute steps.

For Teachers

We know there are always many ways to help students. Here are ten tips to make sure that they have every chance to succeed!

For Parents
Send home a test-taking checklist for parents and students to review together, such that come test day, learners feel ready to do their best. Grab one for elementary or secondary students.

For Students
Try out a practice test to become familiar with the online format and the types of questions on the test.

Practice to Ensure That Students Are Ready for PARCC Testing

There is something unique about testing of any kind that requires students to recall information they’ve previously learned and apply it to answer the question at hand. If your students don’t have experience with this—whether it’s through low-stakes formative assessment or high-stakes summative tests—they may struggle on test day.

The old adage “practice makes perfect” is a familiar turn of phrase for a reason. Ensure that you’re getting the most out of every minute your students are spending on practice testing. Check out a few resources to help you get up and running with practice!

• 5 Proven Ways to Get the Most Out of Practice Testing - As cliché as it might sound, that old phrase still rings true that the best way to prepare is to “practice, practice, practice.”

• Start your FREE trial of Study Island!
  Study Island is the perfect resource to help ensure that your students are ready for testing! Study Island provides all the features and experiences students need for PARCC testing: 
  • TE item types
  • Skills mastery
  • Similar testing experience (seriously, they are similar—take a look for yourself):

Additional Resources

Here are a few more resources to round out your PARCC testing season and ensure that it goes down in the books as successful.

• Learning Heroes – a Web resource for information on PARCC, resources, and tools
• Last Minute Testing Strategies – an Edmentum blog post outlining four tips to help students prepare for testing
• Score Report Visual Breakdown – a great visual breakdown of the scorecard students receive, including a description of the skills needed to demonstrate a clear understanding of grade-level standards
• Understanding the Score Report– a video for parents explaining the test and exploring the score report