| |||||||||||||||||||
NJ Spotlight--Putting the Latest PARCC Results in Perspective
More New Jersey students are passing the online exams, but are enough of them attaining the top scores?
The latest results showing how New Jersey’s public school students fared on the state’s PARCC exams were released yesterday, showing a continued — albeit gradual — improvement in overall passing rates.
But like all things PARCC in this state, there are questions and debates about what it all means.
Even the apparent good news is mixed: More students are passing the test, but the overall numbers are still worrying. And there remain plenty of doubts as to whether PARCC is even a valid measure, especially when it comes to state graduation requirements.
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/07/27/putting-the-latest-parcc-results-in-perspective/
John Mooney | July 27, 2017
Star Ledger--3rd year of PARCC: Are N.J. students making the grade?
In the latest round of testing, New Jersey students posted higher overall scores on math and reading tests, but large numbers of students continued to miss the mark in the third year of the PARCC exams.
State officials Wednesday announced the results of the 2017 PARCC exam taken in the spring, noting that in all but two grade levels, more students achieved higher scores on both the English Language Arts and math exams than they did in 2015 and 2016.
Still, in math, there was only one grade level, 3rd, where more than 50 percent of students met or exceeded grade level expectations. English scores were generally higher, with -- depending on the grade level -- between 38.4 and 59.2 percent of students met or exceeded the expectation standards.
Jessica Mazzola| July 26, 2017 at 3:12 PM
Press of Atlantic City--Our view: Editorial--NJ needs a bold cure for its unaffordable school-funding mess
New Jersey’s system for funding public schools isn’t stable, fair, fiscally sound or good for schools and their students. The only beneficiaries of its dysfunction are special interests, politicians and advocacy groups who get a piece of the action in the annual school funding fight.
Many school districts don’t find out until the last minute whether their state aid will be less than they need or more than they deserve. They know that a year later, it could switch from one to the other. That makes it impossible to efficiently plan and develop education programs and facilities.
This year seemed worse than most, which is saying something.
Jul 26, 2017
Education Week-- What Has Betsy DeVos Actually Done After Nearly Six Months in Office?
When U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos came into office, many in the education community were terrified the billionaire school choice advocate would quickly use her new perch to privatize education and run roughshod over traditional public schools.
Maybe they shouldn’t have been quite so worried. Nearly six months into her new job, a politically hamstrung DeVos is having a tough time getting her agenda off the ground.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/07/25/what-has-betsy-devos-actually-done-after.html
Alyson Klein| July 25, 2017
