Legislation, A-4190 (Diegnan), which would establish a three year moratorium on the use of PARCC scores for students and educators was passed by the Assembly February 23 by a vote of 63-7-4.
The legislation would ban the use of the PARCC assessment for purposes of student placement in a gifted and talented program, placement in another program or intervention, grade promotion, as the state graduation proficiency test, any other school or district-level decision that affects students. It also eliminates the use of the PARCC test as a component of any evaluation rubric submitted to the Commissioner of Education for three years beginning in the 2015-2016 school year.
NJPSA supports the legislation as a means of lessoning anxiety with the new assessment system on the part of students, parents, teachers and school leaders. However, NJPSA urged the Assembly (NJPSA Statement) to move cautiously as the legislation might jeopardize New Jersey’s ESEA waiver and could be in violation of the TEACHNJ statute (the landmark evaluation and tenure reform legislation passed last year).