The bells were silent

We are PARCC testing again. The bells are off to prevent disruptions in testing classrooms. One grade tested today and will test tomorrow. My own students will test during the last two days of this week. They are saying, “Again??!!” They want the Illinois State Achievement Test back. I want the Illinois State Achievement Test back. Testing should not take two sessions, especially when those sessions take place less than two months apart.

Eduhonesty: I mean, honestly, how can a seven-week break make any sense at all? Especially since we have been testing them with MAP and AIMSWEB during that period, precluding the instruction that we might have given if not for those other two tests, this time gap serves no useful purpose that I can see — except perhaps to disguise the total length of the Federal government’s new PARCC test, as if we were selling America’s parents and students the $9.99 test instead of the $10.00 one.