Preliminary statewide results from last spring’s Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers Exam (PARCC) have been released, with a number of students falling short of expectations.
However, State Schools Superintendent Tony Smith said the results should serve as a baseline for schools and students.
The PARCC exam, based on the Common Core standards, measures what students should know for their grade level, emphasizing skills such as critical thinking and problem solving. PARCC replaced the Prairie State Achievement Examination, which had been administered to high school juniors, and the Illinois Standards Achievement Test, which previously had been used to assess grade school students.
Some critics are worried that the Common Core curriculum isn’t appropriate for the classroom and that such testing could negatively affect children.
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