Coast schools suffer after PARCC testing

As an avid proponent of our public schools, I need to share some facts concerning the 2015 Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers testing, the new accountability model.

Among the thousands of problems reported during the schools’ first online tests, some of the most frequent were:

— Tests “freezing” and repeatedly shutting down midstream, requiring students to restart many times

— Online calculators not working and graphs missing from math questions

— Unresponsive items and insufficient bandwidth

Why do all these problems matter? This was a timed test, and these types of problems result in lost time, which leads to many unanswered questions and, ultimately, lower grades.

How does this affect South Mississippi’s schools? Starting next year, the grades will affect the schools’ ratings, but we get a waiver this year because districts are “held harmless” for one year, so those with lower grades under the new model will keep the higher prior-year grade as their official rating.

Here’s how the Coast’s school districts did:

— Bay St. Louis-Waveland, Hancock County, Harrison County and Jackson County all went from a “B” to a “C.”

— Biloxi and Ocean Springs went from an “A” to a “B.”

— Gulfport remained stable with a “B.”

— Long Beach and Pass Christian went from an “A” to a “C.”

— Moss Point remained the same with a “D.”

Bottom line: With this testing and school districts falling into a lower grade, the privatization of our public school districts is exactly what our legislatures are trying to enforce. Lower school ratings mean more school vouchers. Eventually, we’ll see our public schools diminish in value, promoting private schools through public taxes.

Be proactive and see how your legislature votes in your district at msparentscampaign.org.

This story was originally published July 30, 2016 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Coast schools suffer after PARCC testing."