You received your child’s PARCC scores and you’re not quite sure what to make of them. Your child scored a 4 in math but a 2 in ELA. What does that mean? Is there anything you should do? With standardized testing now a key part of your child’s academic future, spend some time getting to know the exams and learning what you can do to ensure your child is fully prepared for the future.

Learn about the test

What is the PARCC anyways? Starting with the 2014-15 school year, New Jersey moved from the NJ Ask as a means of academic assessment to the PARCC, which stands for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers in ELA and math – essentially exams that are designed to measure high-level skills more effectively than their predecessor. The PARCC assessments are given to students in grades 3-11 and test both math and ELA. These computer-based tests are given in individual units and students are given one unit per day over 3 or 4 consecutive days.

How does the scoring work?

The PARCC is scored on a points system with each test worth 850 total points. The scores are broken into five levels:

Level 5 – exceeded expectations (810-850)
Level 4 – met expectations (750-809)
Level 3 – approached expectations (725-749)
Level 2- partially met expectations (700-724)
Level 1 – did not meet expectations (650-699)

When you receive a score sheet, you will see not just your child’s individual scores but also the average scores across their school, district, and state, and descriptions of where your child did well and where she could use some additional help. This information will help you assess how will your child met (or did not meet) grade level expectations in ELA and math, and the category breakdown within each subject can help you understand any academic areas that need further attention and development (that’s a good thing!).

What should you do to help prepare your child going forward?

Focus on skills building!

If your child scored ‎below what you had hoped for, don’t fret! Instead, talk to his teacher about ways to improve his academic performance, and look for supplemental activities you can do to develop any areas of weakness. You can try online resources like bealearninghero.org, learningfarm.com, and IXL.com for targeted skills-building exercises. There are also several PARCC specific test prep books that offer ample practice with the different types of questions on the exams. Lumos Learning, Common Core 4 Today, and Spectrum all offer these types of books.

Look at past test samples

To familiarize your child with the structure and format of the exam, seek out past sample tests. Questions on the PARCC might seem more confusing than past exams with more straightforward questions, so exposure to the types of questions (and practice solving them) will be very helpful for your child. For example, instead of plugging in a number to solve a straight forward math problem, on the PARCC, your child might now need to read a problem with, for example, four or five numbers – but only use two of them to solve it. Be sure to give your child a feel for these “trickier” types of questions so he is not surprised when he sees them; instead, he should feel confident and well-prepared come test day.

Standardized tests are likely here to stay. Help prepare your child for these exams going forward by assessing her weaknesses from past exams, building her core skills, and exposing her to the exam format and questions she will inevitably see. In doing so, she will be well on her way to academic and standardized testing success.

The post You Received Your Child’s PARCC Scores…Now What? appeared first on EBL Coaching.

With the PARCC exams around the corner, many students (and parents) are feeling those all-too-common pre-test jitters. Palms are sweating and heart rates are rapidly pulsing. You can help your child feel more prepared and at ease with the standardized test taking tips and strategies detailed below.

Strategies for multiple choice questions

Many students feel “stuck” when answering multiple choice questions. Some become overwhelmed by the number of choices and others just can’t decide which is the correct answer. Try relaying the strategies below to help your child better answer multiple choice questions:

-For starters, cross of any answers you immediately know are incorrect. This one is a no-brainer.
-Read the question more than once (at least twice) to make sure you fully understand what is being asked.
-Cover the answers. Always read the stem, or body of the question first, before looking at the answers. Try to answer the question in your mind just by reading the question, then see if you can find your answer in one of the choices.
-Look for clue words. Answer choices that have “hard” words like never, always, or definitely‎ are generally less likely to be correct than “softer” words such as usually, sometimes, or probably. Underline these clue words to help you decide on the correct answer.
-If “all of the above” is an option and you are confident that two or more answers are correct, select the “all of the above” choice.

Strategies for short essays

For some kids, writing in an untimed setting is daunting. Yet having to write a structured, well-thought-out written response in a timed setting can seem downright insurmountable. Help your child effectively answer short answer questions using the TAG strategy, as follows:

This strategy helps break down short essay response writing into these steps-

T-Turn around the question to form your answer.
A-Answer the question.
G-Give details to describe and support your answer.

For example, say the prompt is: You just read two articles in support of and against school uniforms. Based on your reading, do you feel school uniforms should be required at all schools? Support your essay with information from the articles you read.

You can answer using the TAG strategy, as follows:

T-Yes, school ‎uniforms should be required.
A-School uniforms should be required because classrooms will be more orderly, kids will feel more equal to one another, and students will focus more on their learning rather than on their clothing.
G-Here your child would provide more details, elaborating on the three reasons ‎why she feels school uniforms should be required.

SAFER strategy acronym

If your child still feels anxious on test day and you’re looking for some final tips, try sharing the SAFER acronym:

S-Save the hard questions for last; complete the problems you know how to do confidently first.
A-Add details and examples to your writing to elaborate on your ideas.
F-Fix your answers (if needed) when you go back to self-check your work.
E-Ease your mind. If your nerves kick in, take a few deep breaths, visualize the ocean or a peaceful garden, and try to relax.
R-Read (and re-read if necessary) passages to find the information you need in order to best answer the questions.

Standardized tests can nerve wrecking experiences for many students. Ease your child’s pre-test jitters with these tips and tools, and he will be well on his way to testing success.

The post Test Taking Strategies for PARCC appeared first on EBL Coaching.