Just when you thought you understood the New England Common Assessment Program, here comes a new state test for students that some say may be even harder.
It's called PARCC, which stands for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, and it will replace the NECAP in the spring of 2015.
The new test represents a sea change in several major ways: It will be performed on a laptop. It will be given twice a year. It will test every grade from grade 3 through grade 11. The NECAP doesn't test in grades 9 and 10.
And it will be shared by 22 states, including Massachusetts and New York. For the first time, a test will be able to make state-to-state comparisons of student performance in English, writing and math.
And, according to some educators, the new test will be a lot more challenging.
"I don't know if it's harder," said Paula Dillon, Barrington's director of instruction and curriculum. "It's a different way of assessing students. The NECAP has many multiple choice questions." The PARCC, she said, calls for more problem-solving, more writing and more analysis.