As we conclude 2015, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released the scores on the PARCC assessments taken by students in grades 3-8 last spring. Parents should have received a mailing from your school with your student’s individual results in English Language Arts (ELA) and Math.
PARCC is significantly more rigorous than the ISAT, Illinois’ former state assessment, and has a different scale to report student performance. The test is aligned with the updated Illinois Learning Standards and measures students’ problem-solving abilities, critical thinking, and writing skills, which are all essential for success in higher education and the workplace. Additionally, the assessments ask students to demonstrate and apply their knowledge and skills.
In ELA, 57% of our students met or exceeded (levels 4 and 5) grade-level expectations, while 50% met or exceeded grade-level expectations in Math. District 64 continues to outperform Illinois state averages at each grade level as well as the average of other states participating in the PARCC test. A good resource to understand more about PARCC scores is the Understand the Score website.
According to Superintendent Laurie Heinz: "PARCC scores reflect a new baseline for our District, and over time should become a more reliable instrument for assessing student learning. In the meantime, we will continue to use classroom assessment data, our Educational Ends, and student performance on the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) to help us understand the impact of our instructional program," she added.
More information about PARCC and other student assessment results are available on this overview of student achievement page.