Evesham School District could discuss PARCC scores at Dec. 17 meeting
In several weeks, New Jersey is set to release the 2014–2015 Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers scores for individual schools districts, schools and students throughout the state.
With that timing in mind, at the Nov. 19 meeting of the Evesham Township School District Board of Education, Superintendent John Scavelli Jr. said the district is tentatively planning a public presentation of district PARCC information at the BOE’s next meeting on Dec. 17.
During last school year, PARCC testing replaced the previously administered New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge as the state’s standardized assessment for students in the subjects of English language arts and mathematics.
The PARCC test deviated from NJASK testing in several ways, as PARCC testing was conducted entirely on computers and the questions were meant to measure students’ knowledge beyond memorization.
At the Nov. 19 meeting, Scavelli noted previous state assessments commonly required students to answer multiple choice or true-false questions with answers based on rote memorization.
He compared such assessments to PARCC, which he said was created to focus on more complex, real-world problem solving, critical evaluations and higher order thinking scoring.
For that reason, Scavelli said when district, school and student scores are released next month, those scores should not be compared to previous test scores.
“They are setting a new baseline from which progress can be measured moving forward,” Scavelli said.
Once the district receives detailed PARCC scores from the state, Scavelli said the district would send that information home to parents, along with a letter and guide to the score report.
Scavelli said that parent guide, along with several other PARCC informational items, is posted on the district’s website through the Curriculum and Instruction section, listed under District Assessment Program.
“The individual student reports will be sent to parents sometime following the public presentation,” Scavelli said.
In other news:
• Board member Sandy Student, the BOE’s liaison to the township’s planning board, updated the board and public on redevelopment plans for Renaissance Square along Route 70, formerly known as Tri-Towne Plaza, and how those plans might affect the school district.
Student said there will be 340 new apartments at the site, which was an increase from original plans after the developer determined more apartments was more economically feasible than the amount of new retail originally planned.
Of the apartments, Student said they are primarily being designed for dual-income couples with no children, as well as “empty nesters,” i.e. parents whose children have grown into adults and left home.
Student said the apartments are being targeted in such a way that the rental would not be as attractive as a mortgage payment for families with children.
He said the apartments will be spread across five buildings with elevators in those buildings, and elevator buildings traditionally do not attract families with young children.
Student also said there will not be any amenities for young children on the site.
“The thought is there will not be an impact to the school district,” Student said.
