TAKING NOTE
NOVEMBER 2013
ready for college and career. The assessments
include: ACT Explore for eighth grade students, ACT
Plan in tenth grade, and the ACT in eleventh grade.
ACT establishes College Readiness Benchmark
scores for each subject test indicating a student’s
probability of success in the corresponding college
course. These scores are derived from research
on student test scores and course grades from
98 higher education institutions and over 90,000
students. Based on these calculations, students
meeting ACT Benchmark scores have about a 50
percent chance of earning a B or higher and about
a 75 percent chance of earning a C or higher in their
corresponding college course area.xvii
Since 2010, Tennessee has seen little progress in
terms of the percent of students meeting the College Readiness Benchmarks and continues to be
below the majority of other states who use the ACT.
Data released in 2013 showed that only 18 percent of
eleventh graders, 16 percent of tenth graders, and 17
percent of eighth graders met all four benchmarks on
their respective ACT tests.xviii
PARCC Assessments
As part of the transition to the Common Core
State Standards, two groups of states have been
working together to develop rigorous assessments
to measure student learning aligned to the new
standards. These consortia include the Partnership
for the Assessment of Readiness for College
and Careers (PARCC) and the Smarter Balanced
Assessment Consortium (SBAC). As a governing
state in the PARCC consortium, Tennessee has been
involved in decision making about PARCC since
the beginning. Representatives from the Tennessee
Department of Education and local school districts
have contributed to the assessment development
and review processes. Higher education faculty
from across the state are active participants on
the committees involved in the work – three are
on the Content Committee, voting on specific test
questions to include, three are on the Bias Review
Committee, and three sit on the State Review
Committee. PARCC assessments will replace TCAP
in math, writing, and English language arts beginning
PAGE 7
in the 2014 school year. In addition, the PARCC
exams for 11th grade will be used as a college
readiness indicator. Both public university systems
in Tennessee, the Tennessee Board of Regents and
the University of Tennessee System, have agreed to
use PARCC results to determine whether or not an
incoming freshman will require remedial coursework.
PARCC has put significant emphasis on creating
assessment questions that reflect the instructional
shifts and rigor of the new standards so that the
tests complement and enhance student learning.
Students will be assessed on performance tasks
and their ability to cite evidence from texts to
support their responses, rather than just answering
multiple choice questions. In addition, teachers will
be able to use the results to tailor their instruction
to individual student needs. Another key difference
between PARCC and the current state tests is
that the assessments will be administered online.
Districts have been working – with guidance from
the state and PARCC – to upgrade their technology
infrastructure and internet bandwidth to ensure that
they are ready for online assessments by 2014. To
ease the transition, districts can opt to use a paper
and pencil version at least during the first year.
However, there are many benefits to using the online
version, including faster results and lower cost.
LOOKING AHEAD
Ongoing, Job-embedded Professional Learning
The Tennessee Department of Education has been
able to provide substantial training on the Common
Core State Standards for teachers and principals.
However, it will be important to build upon that
foundation with continual training and support
throughout the year. As teachers are implementing
the standards and approaching instruction in
new, innovative ways, it will be important to have
opportunities to reflect, share best practices, and learn
from other educators.
Integrating the Standards Into Teacher Preparation
Future teachers will need to understand how to teach
1207 18th Avenue South, Suite 326, Nashville, TN 37212 — tel 615.727.1545 — fax 615.727.1569 — www.tnscore.org