NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WPRI) — A group of parents rallied outside the New Bedford School Department on Monday, calling for an end to the city’s participation in the PARCC exam.
They claim not enough families know they’re allowed to opt out of the exam, which they describe as “high-stakes testing”.
“There’s a place for standardized testing in education,” Ricardo Rosa told Eyewitness News. “What we are against is high-stakes standardized testing where you attach scores on a test to teacher’s jobs, when you attach scores and a test to whether or not kids can graduate from high school.”
Meanwhile, the school department says the Swift School is going to drop on the statewide ranking from a level one to a level three school because participation levels for the exam are down.
“I agree that testing by itself does not improve instruction – but it does provide essential information to support those improvement efforts,” Massachusetts education Commissioner Mitchell Chester explained.
Parents say they’re working to repeal PARCC on the November ballot.
