1. [STATE NAME] State Assessments: What do families need to know?
[INSERT DATE]
[CUSTOMIZE FOR STATE]
[WELCOME SLIDE – TRANSITION AT BEGINNING OF EVENT]

2. Overview of Discussion
What the new state tests mean for your child
What your child can expect
Ways to support your child
How to interpret test results
Additional resources for parents
[CUSTOMIZE FOR STATE]
Welcome! I’m {Name}, and I’m {Position}. We know many of you wanted to learn more about the [STATE NAME] State Tests– especially given the changes this year. That’s why PTA and {School} partnered to host this information night for families – parents and guardians – to learn the basics about the tests, as well as ways you can help prepare your children.
Today we will cover:
More information about what the new state test means for your child
What your child can expect
Ways to support your child
How to interpret the results
And additional resources
We’ll begin with a presentation and then have a question and answer session.
At this time, I’d like to welcome {Name}, {Title}, who will share more about the assessments.
[INSERT BIO SLIDE WITH NAME/PHOTO OF SPEAKER IF SPEAKER IS SOMEONE THE AUDIENCE MAY NOT KNOW, SUCH AS A SCHOOL DISTRICT LEADER]

3. What the New State Tests Mean for Your Child
CUSTOMIZE TITLE FOR STATE
Welcome! I’m {Name}, and I’m {Position}.
{Insert comments about importance of families knowing more about the standards, curriculum and state assessments as families are the most important education partner. Thank the audience for taking the time to learn more – and support their children’s academic success.}   

4. New Statewide Tests
[STATE NAME] adopted higher, more focused standards–[STATE NAME]’s College and Career-Ready Standards–in 2010 to better prepare students for college, technical schools, and careers.
Our education system was falling short in developing the critical-thinking and problem-solving skills needed to compete with students from anywhere in the world.
New standards require new state tests that better measure these skills and allow students to show what they know and what they can do.
Example Third Grade Reading Standard: “Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.”
[STATE NAME] adopted more rigorous standards for students to better prepare them for the future. New standards meant [STATE NAME] needed a new test that was aligned to these standards so we could see how our students were progressing.
This is just one example of a 3rd grade reading example. For more information on the standards at every grade level, check out the Parents’ Guides for Student Success on the PTA website listed on your handout.

5. New Statewide Tests
Students in grades 3-8 will take the English Language Arts and Mathematics tests. They will be divided into two components that can each be taken online.
Students will take the test in two parts:
Performance-Based Assessment [INSERT TESTING WINDOW]
Longer multi-step questions, including essays
Hand-scored
End-of-Year [INSERT TESTING WINDOW]
Short-answer questions and multiple choice
Machine-scored
The PARCC test is broken into two different sections that are each given at different times. Both sections can be taken online, but not every students in every grade will take the online version. Because the goal is to have all students taking the tests online, having 2 components and test windows allows for more flexibility in scheduling, and a break for students from having consecutive weeks with tests.
The first component students take is the longer performance-based assessments. They include the writing tasks and multi-step problems, which measure critical thinking, problem solving and real world skills and need to be hand scored.
The second component, the end-of-year tests, are more traditional test questions. They are made up of innovative, short-answer questions to measure student understanding of both concepts and skills and are computer-scored.
Scores from both tests are combined to produce a comprehensive score for each student.

6. The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers
What is PARCC?
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers
A group of states that have worked together to develop high quality tests in English and Math that are aligned to the new standards.
[STATE NAME] joined PARCC to create a new test aligned to our standards.
The tests were field-tested in Spring 2014 by 1 million students in 16,000 schools, including [STATE NAME].
PARCC (The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers) is a group of states that joined together to develop state tests that were aligned to higher standards. PARCC created a modern test to replace old state tests in Math and English. The PARCC tests gives parents and teachers better information on where students are excelling or need more help.
[STATE NAME] teachers reviewed test questions, and reading passages, and were involved in the development of the test.

7. What Do the Tests Measure?
English Language Arts
Whether students can read and understand texts of varying complexities.
How well students use information from several sources to make a persuasive argument.
Whether they can write, using what they’ve read and multi-media to support their arguments.
Math
Whether students can understand and use important math ideas (i.e., number sense, algebraic thinking, geometry, and data analysis).
How students use math facts and reasoning skills to solve real-world problems.
How well students can justify their answers using math concepts.
The New [STATE NAME] Assessments measure progress on the skills outlined in the standards. For example, in English Language Arts – can students read and comprehend tests of varying complexities? How well are they using information they read to make an argument? Are they using context clues to determine the meaning of a vocabulary word?
In Math, the assessments have questions that test if students not only get the right answer, but also explain how they got that answer. That’s called number sense. Why is that important? Number sense transforms into algebraic thinking, understanding geometry, and analyzing data. That’s really how you use math in the real-world.

8. How Do I Know What My Child is Expected to Learn This Year
The PTA developed grade-specific “Guides to Student Success” so you know the skills your child should master and what he or she is expected to know every year:
These guides detail what your child should be working on in every grade in Mathematics and English Language Arts.

9. What Students Can Expect
Let’s talk a little bit about what your student can expect.

10. What’s Different About the Tests?
The new tests go beyond the “bubble test.”
Students show their work through:
Extended writing and multi-step questions which require students to apply the skills they have learned.
They measure:
Problem-solving
Writing
Critical thinking
Reading Comprehension
Students will no longer just select the right answer. They will need to think critically and explain how they got their answer, with less random guesswork.
They will read and analyze complex texts and write essays. Both the Math and English tests will have many different types of questions – such as multiple choice, essay, and short answer.

11. How Long Will the Tests Take?
These tests may take longer:
Thinking critically, reading deeply, and writing a well- thought response takes more time than simply filling in a bubble.
Necessary skills to practice and master.
4 hours each on the Mathematics and English Language Arts portion of the test:
One to two tests per day (1-1 ½ hours each test)
Most students finish in less time
These tests will probably take students more time to complete. The PARCC tests are designed to measure what students truly know and can do, and how well they can think critically, analyze, comprehend complex text, and write persuasively. These types of skills are necessary skills for students to practice and master, but take time to demonstrate on high-quality test questions.
Most students will spend about four hours each on the Mathematics and English Language Arts portions of the test. Those will be broken down into smaller units that will take most students 40 to 60 minutes each, though schools will schedule up to 90 minutes for each unit to make sure that all students have the time they need. Students will not test everyday, and will only have one to two tests per day.
Based on field test data, it took a 6th grader 6 ½ hours to complete and an 11th grader 7 ½ hours to complete both components in Math and English Language Arts.

12. What Will be Different in Math?
Students will:
Show their work and demonstrate that they understand a concept in addition to memorizing the formula.
Compute math problems quickly and accurately.
Know multiple ways to solve problems, allowing them to choose the method that is best.
Students apply the mathematics they know to solve problems arising in everyday life, society, and the workplace. For example, students may be asked to relate addition and subtraction problems to money and goals related to saving money. This requires that they explain their reasoning and that they not merely memorize a formula or a rule but rather show how the formula or rule works. They’ll also have questions that gauge their speed at answering math problems quickly and accurately. Students won’t only learn a single method, but multiple ways. This helps them not only choose the method that is best for them, but also prepares them with the skills they need to solve more complex problems.

13. EXAMPLE: 5th Grade Math Test
Previous State Assessment Test Example:
The town of La Paz, Bolivia, is in the Andes mountains. Which of these units could be used to describe the distance of the town of La Paz above sea level?
Degrees
Feet
Cubic Inches
Pounds
[CUSTOMIZE SLIDE & SCRIPT FOR STATE]
Here’s an example of an old question.
[READ QUESTION; GIVE PRIZE FOR CORRECT ANSWER]
OK, in this question – you may know the right answer or you may guess and hope you get the right answer. And sometimes – you get lucky. Multiple choice or True/False formats allow students to make a random selection if they are unsure of the answer.

14. EXAMPLE: 5th Grade Math Test
New [STATE NAME] State Assessment Example:
Mr. Edmunds shared 12 pencils among his four sons as follows:
Alan received 1/3 of the pencils
Bill received 1/4 of the pencils
Carl received more than 1 pencil
David received more pencils than Carl
PART A: On the number line, represent the fraction of the total number of pencils that was given to both Alan and Bill combined. Use the buttons on the right to increase or decrease the number of equal sections on the number line.
PART B: What fraction of the total number of pencils did Carl and David each receive? Justify your answer.
[CUSTOMIZE SLIDE & SCRIPT FOR STATE]
[READ QUESTION; GIVE A FEW MINUTES. GIVE PRIZE FOR CORRECT ANSWERS]
There are no random selections, which means students cannot use guesswork. They have to apply what they know about number sense to solve the problem, show their work and explain their answer. It will take students more time per question than simply choosing the best answer. .

15. EXAMPLE: 6th Grade Math Test
Previous State Assessment Example:
Mr. August’s class went to the museum on February 14th and they had an ice-cream party on March 2nd. How many days were there between the museum trip and ice-cream party?
[CUSTOMIZE SLIDE & SCRIPT FOR STATE]
[READ QUESTION]
This question only requires students to compute an answer. It doesn’t require them to explain how they got their answer or why that answer is right. It only skims the surface of proving that students deeply understand a mathematical concept.

16. EXAMPLE: 6th Grade Math Test
New [STATE NAME] State Assessment Example:
Mr. Ruiz is starting a marching band at his school. He first does research and finds the following data about other local marching bands.
PART A: Enter your answer in the blank .
Mr. Ruiz realizes there are ______ brass instrument player(s) per percussion player.
PART B: Mr. Ruiz has 210 students who are interested in joining the marching band. He decides to have 80% of the band be made up of percussion and brass instruments. Use the unit rate you found in Part A to determine how many students should play brass instruments. Show or explain all your steps.
Band 1
Band 2
Band 3
Number of Brass Instrument Players
123 42 50
Number of Percussion Instrument Players 41 14
[CUSTOMIZE SLIDE & SCRIPT FOR STATE]
[READ QUESTION]
On this 6th grade example, it is easy to see the more in-depth work students need to do to solve the problem. In Part A, they are required to fill in the blank, not just select a correct answer. And then in Part B, they apply their answer to a situation that could be found in the real-world - even if students don’t encounter this in configuring a school band, they are sure to need to understand how to use percentages in many scenarios.

17. What Will be Different in English Language Arts?
Students will:
Show they can read and understand complex passages.
Use evidence to support their ideas in written responses at every grade level.
Research a topic and use the findings to make a claim and draw a conclusion.
With the new English tests, students will show that they can read and understand complex passages because they’ll be required to write about it, at every grade level, which was not done with previous state tests. They’ll also be asked to write persuasively and support their ideas.

18. EXAMPLE: 5th Grade ELA Test
Previous State Assessment Test Example:
Read the writing prompt below and complete the writing activity:
Jump out of bed! Look out the window! It is a perfect weather day!
Write a story about a day when the weather seemed perfect.
[CUSTOMIZE SLIDE & SCRIPT FOR STATE]
Let’s take a look to see the difference.
[READ QUESTION]
The right answer is subjective. Yes, students get to show their creative-thinking skills which are very important, but how did they use their creative-thinking to analyze a problem and develop solutions or conclusions?

19. EXAMPLE: 5th Grade ELA Test
New [STATE NAME] State Assessment Example:
You have read two texts about famous people in American history who solved a problem by working to make a change.
Write an article for your school newspaper describing how Eliza and Carver faced challenges to change something in America.
In your article, be sure to describe in detail why some solutions they tried worked and others did not work.
Tell how the challenges each one faced were the same and how they were different.
[CUSTOMIZE SLIDE & SCRIPT FOR STATE]
In this example, you’ll see how much deeper students need to go to read, comprehend, and write an answer.
[READ QUESTION]
Students read more complex texts and then they are asked to write about them. They are also reading informational text, and learning about history, science, health, or other life-relevant topics. Then they write with a purpose – thinking about a problem, analyzing what happened, and considering possible solutions.
Students demonstrate comprehension, writing skills, and ability to analyze and think critically about problems and solutions .

20. EXAMPLE: 7th Grade ELA Test
Previous State Assessment Example:
Going to the movies is a major source of entertainment for many students. Imagine that the only discount movie theater in your area is closing.
Write a persuasive essay in support of keeping the discount movie theater open.
[CUSTOMIZE SLIDE & SCRIPT FOR STATE]
[READ QUESTION]
Again, this answer is subjective. Although students are required to write persuasively, they are drawing on their own opinions, instead of facts or evidence from text, which is an important skill for them to have.

21. EXAMPLE: 7th Grade ELA Test
New [STATE NAME] State Assessment Example:
You have read a website entry and an article, and viewed a video describing Amelia Earhart. All three include information that supports the claim that Earhart was a brave, courageous person. The three titles are:
“The Biography of Amelia Earhart”
“Earhart’s Final Resting Place Believed Found”
“Amelia Earhart’s Life and Disappearance” (video)
Consider the argument each author uses to demonstrate Earhart’s bravery. Write an essay that analyzes the strength of the arguments related to Earhart’s bravery in at least two of the three supporting materials. Remember to use textual evidence to support your ideas.
[CUSTOMIZE SLIDE & SCRIPT FOR STATE]
[READ QUESTION]
In this example, students had to read and view a variety of texts and sources. Students must then analyze the sources and pull evidence from them to support their writing, which also involves critical-thinking skills.

22. Ways to Support Your Student
Let’s talk a little bit about what you can do to support your students at home and reinforce what they are doing at school.

23. How Can I Help at Home?
Take a moment to review a practice test with your child:
Talk with your child and reassure him/her that these tests aren’t the kind you “cram” for, but just measure what they’ve mastered from their classwork.
Assure your child they have enough time to finish.
Have them read a variety of materials at home, including fiction and informational texts.
Involve learning in everyday activities. Mix math into cooking or shopping. Ask children to express opinions and to back their views.
Do a practice test with your child. Get familiar with the features of the test. Also have conversations with your child to help reduce their anxiety. Assure them they will have enough time to finish, as the test is untimed. Also try to involve learning in everyday life: encourage them to read at home and find routine activities you can include learning activities with like cooking or shopping.

24. How To Interpret Test Results
After the test, you are wondering – what does this all mean? How does this help my child?

25. What Will Results Look Like?
The PARCC score reports were designed to provide better information on how your child is progressing and where he or she might need more help. Score reports for both English Language Arts and Math will give an overall measure of how your child performed individually and when compared to other students in the state, and across other PARCC states.
The reports will also include how well your child performed in each of several categories, and a description of the category. This is the actionable information that can be used to help ensure there aren’t any learning gaps. And if they are falling behind, it ensures that students can get help immediately.

26. New Tests New Baselines
These upgraded tests are harder.
With a greater emphasis on deeper learning, we have raised the bar for our students, parents, and teachers.
This new bar cannot be compared to the old one.
The scores are not higher or lower, just different.
Simply put, these tests are harder. Students will be answering more complex questions and solving more complex problems, which was not required on the previous state tests, but gives us the useful information about student progress (that you saw on the previous slide) that was not possible before. Because they are harder, scores may look lower than before.
This does not mean that students learned nothing or scored lower. We have raised the bar for our students by requiring them to understand concepts more deeply. We cannot compare the old tests, which measured student progress, to the new tests, which holds them to a much higher bar. The scores aren’t higher or lower, they are simply different because we are measuring different things.
Change is hard, and just as our students will be adjusting to the new test, educators and leaders will need time to transition to the test to fulfill its promise.

27. How Will Scores be Used? Test results will help schools to:
Make instructional decisions.
Determine individual needs of students:
Extra support?
More challenging work?
Recommendations for future classes?
Scores do not impact GPA, class ranking, or college acceptance.
The test results will allow parents, teachers, and students to know whether students are on track each year as they prepare for new academic material. The goal is to ensure that we know when students need more challenging work or more support. This will help your child to get a more personalized education that will best fit their needs. You will also be able to compare your student’s performance with students in other schools, districts, and states. The test scores do not impact GPA, class ranking or college acceptance.

28. Transition Year One: Student Results in the Fall
This timeline shows what the test result timeline will look like this year.
Students in block classes in high school took the PARCC test in late 2014/early Students in grades 3-8 and most high school students will take the tests for the first time this spring. After the test, performance levels need to be set, which means minimum scores must be determined at each grade level to describe different categories of performance (like mastered, partially mastered, or did not master). The performance-based and writing sections will also be hand-scored, which will take much longer to do a thorough job, since it has never been done before. Both of these processes need to be done before final results can be generated. So, in the first year, test results will not be available to teachers and parents until the fall.
It will take more time to score the performance-based and writing components since it has never been done before.

29. Transition Year Two: Student Results before Summer
Next year, scoring will go much more quickly because performance levels have already been set and one round of tests have been scored. Like this year, students will take the assessments in the spring, but next year test results will be available before summer. They can not only be used to measure progress, but also possibly help make decisions about courses for the following school year.
Will be able to compare the scores from this year’s to see progress and strengths and weaknesses.

30. Thank You To Our Teachers
A Transition:
Learning the new standards
Engaging lessons
Helped develop the PARCC test
SPEAKER TURNS PRESENTATION BACK OVER TO PTA REPRESENTATIVE
The PTA believes that every child deserves a high-quality education to give them the opportunity to reach their full potential. To do this, we need high-quality tests that tell us what children know and can do and where they need more help.
We know that teachers have been working very hard over the past few years. They have spent hours attending trainings on the new standards and worked with each other to develop creative, engaging lessons based on the standards. This has been and continues to be a transition for teachers as well. We would like to thank them for all their hard work implementing the new standards, and supporting students as they now transition to new assessments! It could not be possible without you!

31. Resources for More Information
[SAY]
Tonight, we are only scratching the surface and I’m sure many of you have more questions. So we have a number of handouts that you can take with you to reference. I’d also like to point you to some great websites that have more information.

32. Where Can I Find More Info?
Great Web Sites
PARCC Practice Tests: Reading, Writing, Math
Tutorials
Practice Tests
PARCC Info:
Parent Friendly Information and Resources: BeALearningHero.org and Facebook.com/bealearninghero
[STATE NAME] Department of Education: [STATE DOE WEBSITE]
[STATE NAME] State PTA: [STATE PTA WEBSITE]
Visit the PARCC site where you will find practice tests, tutorials, and more specific information about test formats and features.
You can also find parent-friendly information on BeALearningHero.org and on the [STATE NAME] Department of Education’s website.
Finally, visit PTA’s Common Core web pages where you will find guides, videos, webinars, etc. The [STATE NAME] State PTA also has information on its Web site.
Now I’d like to open it up for questions.

33. [STATE NAME]’s New State Assessments: Questions?
[SEE ANTICIPATED QUESTIONS IN DIGITAL TOOLKIT TO SUPPORT YOUR RESPONSES]