Tag Archives: PARCC

Prepare for PARCC without Test Prep!

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Many of us are counting down to the beginning of our first PARCC Assessment or have already begun.  I have heard of a lot of colleagues scrambling to find PARCC practice or other test preparation materials.  Here is the scoop on test prep: it doesn’t work. With all of the criticisms about the amount of time that schools are spending on standardized testing, it is even sadder that we are piling on top of that with exorbitant time preparing students to take these tests. There may be short-term improvements, but large amounts of time and effort devoted to having students take practice items is a waste of instructional time.

What do we do instead? I propose something novel: teaching students the skills and strategies they will need  to be successful thinkers, readers, writers, and mathematicians. This is the goal of PARCC and other tests–to measure how well students think and can do.  If we create successful thinkers, they will be able to read and write and problem solve whatever PARCC throws at them.

Here are some things you can do with your students to prepare for PARCC without test prep:

  • Read complex text independently
  • Orally paraphrasing texts, questions, or writing prompts
  • Answer text-dependent questions
  • Close reading
  • Quote and paraphrases evidence from text
  • Read multiple texts
  • Write from sources
  • Produce extended writing and on-demand writing (2 pages in a single sitting in grade 5 and 1 page grade 4)
  • Write an essay
  • Edit for conventions: capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
  • Keyboard quickly and accurately
  • Use online tools to Drag & Drop,
  • Read on a Screen/ Electronic Device
  • Use note-taking
  • Scroll multiple windows
  • Navigate multiple screens
  • Use online writing tools (spell check, etc.)
  • Use online math tools (calculator, ruler, etc.)
  • Consume media (viewing video clips, websites, listening to podcasts, etc.)

Download the PARCC Learning Activities  handout here.

PARCC Kid-Friendly Rubrics

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PARCC PCR Kid-Friendly Rubrics

Did everyone enjoy the PARCC field test this week?  I’m sure we are all looking forward to all the writing our students will be doing next year! One of the things I have been emphasizing is using rubrics with your students. I believe that encouraging metacognition is a critical skill, and that students who are able to use a rubric to self-assess produce stronger writing.

Download some PARCC-based, kid-friendly rubrics here. There are user- friendly Prose Constructed Response (PCR) rubrics for each grade level.  Prose Constructed Responses are on-demand writing pieces that are crafted in response to text, or prose.

This rubric is based on PARCC language but infuses kid-friendly language

This rubric is based on PARCC language but infuses kid-friendly language

These rubrics use the same language as those developed by PARCC for grades 4-5 or grade 3 (criteria have been scaled down for grades 1-2). The official PARCC rubrics address both analytic (opinion and informational) and for narrative. However, an asterisk on the rubrics indicates that narrative pieces are no longer scored for their demonstration of reading comprehension.  While narrative writing will be written in response to a piece of prose, they will only scored for their writing content and language conventions, not for evidence of reading comprehension.  Therefore, the rubrics are adjusted accordingly.

In addition, there are two versions of each rubric—a condensed and an expanded.  In August 2013, PARCC revised its Prose Constructed Response (PCR) rubric to make it condensed. This means it collapsed all of the writing content into one component and a single goal for possible points. You may find it helpful to use the expanded for instruction because it allows for more distinctions in each category.

Each rubric features precise language from PARCC rubrics; this allows students to become familiar with this language for the assessments.  At this time, students may access PARCC rubrics during PARCC assessments. Therefore, it is a good idea to familiarize students with this language.

Hints for teaching using PCR rubrics:

  • Use rubrics often throughout the writing process and instruction.
  • Read and think aloud what each section of the rubric means.
  • Write (next to the bullet) what it means in plain language (see page 2 for an example).
  • Model scoring writing using the rubric; underling key words and phrases in the writing that matches the rubric descriptors.
  • Show students exemplars of writing that meets the criteria for each of the sections.
  • Encourage students to self-assess using the rubric, highlighting sections of their writing that match the rubric components.
  • Require students to revise and edit Prose Constructed Responses that fall short of the standard.  Model and guide this first!

The Common Core Writing Revolution

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The Common Core has propelled what the National Commission on Writing has been trying to do for years: move writing instruction to the forefront.  Way back in 2003, the National Commission on Writing released “The Neglected R: The Need for a Writing Revolution.  It prescribed sweeping changes to the way we do writing, suggesting it should be a centerpiece to the curriculum. Flash forward to 2010; Common Core State Standards are the biggest buzz, and they feature writing, front and center.  Because these standards are rooted in College & Career Readiness, they sound the alarm for high quality writing instruction.

Why sound the writing alarm?

  • More than 50% of first year college students are unable to produce papers relatively free from errors.
  • On the National Assessment for Education Progress (NAEP)—more than 70% of students in grades 8-12 cannot write at a proficient level.
  • Half the responding companies report that they take writing into consideration when hiring professional employees.
  • Two-thirds of salaried employees in large American companies have some writing responsibility.
  • Writing tests during hiring are becoming more commonplace (80% in some job areas).
  • Half of all companies take writing into account when making promotion decisions.

 How should writing instruction change?

  • Teach writing for an hour (or more) a day. In Common Core, writing receives equal billing with reading. That means we as teachers need to spend a lot more time on writing instruction than we have in the past.  Long ago, when we used a “balanced literacy” model for instruction and administered performance based assessments to our students, they could write.  We wrote all the time, and it showed in their products.  When No Child Left Behind came along, we abandoned writing (because it was no longer on the state assessment).  In fact, students could receive a proficient score without ever writing a single word.  Today, our students’ writing skills reflect that [lack of] instruction. In order for students to be college and career ready, they must be strong writers.
  • Model, think aloud, & guide.  In Pathways to the Common Core, Lucy Calkins reiterated the sentiment from the National Commission on Writing:  We all must own teaching writing.  Every teacher must show students how to write, using think-alouds as we create our own (perhaps not so perfect) pieces and mentor texts of real authors whose style we want to emulate. We must guide young writers through specific, diagnostic mini-lessons and positive feedback.
  • Writing offers the biggest “bang for your buck.” It is the single best thing you can do to move students and teachers toward meeting CCSS. Because new assessments will include a huge amount of writing, improving student’s writing skills will have a reciprocal effect.  Reading will be assessed in part through writing. In addition to that, here’s a sneaky thing that teachers have discovered: teaching writing actually helps improve writing. Through reading and rereading their own and peers’ writing as well as closely reading mentor texts, students are becoming more analytical in their reading.  Sound familiar, like Common Core Anchor Standard 1?
  • Take advantage of the reciprocal nature of reading & writing. Here is a sneaky fact that teachers who have boosted the time commitment for writing have discovered: students’ reading has also improved.  Three key methods were identified by the Writing to Read report. These include 1) have students write about what they read; 2) explicitly teach skills and craft moves of good writers; and 3) have students write a lot.
  • Write across the content areas.  Students have to write all day if they want to improve.  However, don’t mistake the writing done in Science and Social Studies for writing instruction.  Instruction must include explicit modeling and guidance in techniques and methods.  If you are simply assigning writing in the content areas, that isn’t the same.

For the research nerds like me, here is more information:

The Neglected R: The Need for a Writing Revolution
Writing: A Ticket to Work…or a Ticket Out
Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools
Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading