During the 2014-2015 school year, more than 20,000 students opted out of taking the new standardized state test, the PARCC test.   This will be the second year that PARCC will be distributed, and there is uncertainty whether even more students will choose to opt out.

PARCC stands for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.  There are concerns with the test because there is not a sufficient amount of technology, there is question about the reliability and validity of the exam, the readiness for students to take it, and if it is worth the time in school.

 The Daily Herald stated that a large portion of the students who refused to take the test were due to overly passionate parents who thought that the test was unnecessary and not a good use of valuable time in school.  By refusing to let their children take the  PARCC test, it is seen as them hoping to make an effort to change the laws of standardized testing or just to PARCC in particular.

Park the PARCC is a organization created by Chicago public school parents against students taking the test. On the front page of their website, it reads, “The PARCC isn’t ready for our children, and our schools aren’t ready with the technology and or the new curriculum and standards that are required for this test. The test is too long, too expensive and hasn’t been shown to be valid and reliable.”

Sophomore at Geneva High School, Alexander Lindenfelser, stated in an interview, “I felt that the test was far too easy and they gave us so much down time it was mostly boring and the time would’ve been better used elsewhere.  I came only because they put it on the transcripts.  Which I thought was lunacy because they’re placing a standardized test as a permanent fixture on transcripts that would be seen by colleges and other schools if you moved, when it wasn’t really worth that much arbitrary value.”

Last year when the test was first administered, there was a letter sent out to all school district superintedents and board chairs that read, “We are directing you to administer the PARCC assessment to all students, except those who are specifically exempted under the law. If any district does not test, ISBE will withhold its Title I funds.”

By definition, Title 1 funds provide financial assistance to the local educational agencies and schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all of children meet challenging state academic standards.  What that means is that it provides funding to local schools to better the academic achievements of disadvantaged students.

When asked about how important these funds are to Geneva, Mr. Drexler, Associate Principal of Geneva High School, said, “most of our funding comes from property taxes and not Title 1…compared to most districts it’s a very small percentage of our budget.”

PARCC is allowing the test to be taken in paper form this year, but it was intended to be administered online.  Many school districts do not have the amount of technology needed to allow students to take it on computers, which is another big concern.  Some schools have had to update their technology throughout the school causing them to spend a large amount of money to be prepared for PARCC.

Advantages of taking PARCC is that it gives students a chance to show what they understand and what they don’t understand, and the Illinois State Board of Education is getting particulars to parents and teachers about how the Chicago Public Schools are progressing in their education.