3-8 Assessments

The 3-8 PARCC assessments will be delivered at each grade level and will be based directly on the Common Core State Standards
 

The 3-8 PARCC assessments will be delivered at each grade level and will be based directly on the Common Core State Standards.

The distributed PARCC design includes four components - two required summative and two optional non-summative - to provide educators with timely feedback to inform instruction and provide multiple measures of student achievement across the school year.

Summative Assessment Components:

• Performance-Based Assessment (PBA) administered after approximately 75% of the school year. The English language arts/literacy (ELA/literacy) PBA will focus on writing effectively when analyzing text. The mathematics PBA will focus on applying skills, concepts, and understandings to solve multi-step problems requiring abstract reasoning, precision, perseverance, and strategic use of tools.
• End-of-Year Assessment (EOY) administered after approximately 90% of the school year. The ELA/literacy EOY will focus on reading comprehension. The mathematics EOY will call on students to demonstrate further conceptual understanding of the Major Content and Additional and Supporting Content of the grade/course (as outlined in the PARCC Model Content Frameworks), and demonstrate mathematical fluency, when applicable to the grade.

Non-Summative Assessment Components:

• Diagnostic Assessment designed to be an indicator of student knowledge and skills so that instruction, supports, and professional development can be tailored to meet student needs.
• Mid-Year Assessment (MYA) comprised of performance-based items and tasks, with an emphasis on hard-to-measure standards. After study, individual states may consider including the MYA as a summative component.
• Speaking and Listening Assessment (ELA/literacy only) designed to be an indicator of students’ ability to communicate their own ideas, listen to and comprehend the ideas of others, and to integrate and evaluate information from multimedia sources.

The 3-8 assessments will include a range of item types, including innovative constructed response, extended performance tasks, and selected response (all of which will be computer based).