PARCC tests results a good starting point

Results from the myriad standardized tests that students take every year can tell you a lot of things, especially when you look beyond the numbers.

Take the scores of the Partnership of Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, that were released last week. The results, in the words of one state school board member, "look pretty horrific," with the clear majority of high school students in the state not meeting expectations in Algebra I, Algebra II or 10th-grade English. These standards, established over the past few years following extensive educational changes known as Common Core, are being tested for the first time on the high school level in this test. The scores for middle and elementary school students will come out Dec. 8.

Carroll County Public Schools' results on the PARCC were better than most, but that's not saying a whole lot. Locally, in each discipline, the majority of students were found to not meet the expectations of the program. In 10th-grade English, 50.2 percent of students failed to meet performance expectations, and the numbers were worse for Algebra I as 53.1 percent of Carroll students failed to meet expectations and 62.3 percent of them failed to meet Algebra II expectations, still all better than the state averages.

The results have some parents asking whether or not its the test that's the reason for the troubling scores. We say it's too soon to judge any of this considering it's the first year of the assessment. For years, teachers had been instructing students with the goal of them passing the Maryland School Assessment or the High School Assessment tests. And, regardless of whether you agree with the notion of "teaching to the test," the PARCC test is different from the MSAs and HSAs. Teaching hasn't had the chance to catch up.

"The first thing we need to realize is this is a new benchmark; it is a new assessment — it is a higher standard," said Greg Bricca, director of research and accountability for CCPS. "You've heard our curriculum folks talking for a number of years about how PARCC is a higher standard; they've been working to realign curriculum."

We support raising the bar for students because it also raises the bar for the state's school systems. So, at the moment, these test results give school officials a baseline, something that will give them a target to surpass when the next tests are given. With that in mind, a few things are immediately apparent. For example, the PARCC results show a higher percentage of students from low-income families, those in special-education classes and some minority groups had an even tougher time with the tests.

Again, it's too soon to draw any strong conclusions. We've established places for the school system, students and parents to focus. And while it's nice to have some of the best scores in the state, we're nowhere near ready to celebrate that news.