School leaders across the area have been critical of the PARCC assessments their students have already begun.
Last week at a "Meet the Candidates" forum at Clinton High School, Clinton Board of Education Candidates weighed in on the assessments. Incumbent candidate Russell Long calls the testing "not a value added". He notes they are new tests in each district that have a lot of flaws.
[audio:4021561645-4215parcctalk1.mp3] [/audio]
Challenger Evan Severson believes teachers should have more control in the classroom and feels the government should step back.
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Incumbent candidate Nancy Stokowski says the current School Board feels there is too much testing. She says it stems from the new Common Core standards. She feels the testing needs to be worth while.
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Former educator and Board of Education challenger Mitchi Tucker says the curriculum and tests need to be geared towards the students learning. She adds the government needs to get out of the business of education.
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Challenger for a Board of Education seat, Mike Walker agrees with his fellow candidates that the government needs to get out of education. He adds the problem with the assessments also falls on the students because many are not taking it seriously.
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Chris Hammer, who is the ROE 38 math common core, he has trained and taught on it and says it is a system that is set up to fail. He feels the best system is to go back to taking the PSAEs and ACTs because they are meaningful for students.
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Most districts have begun the first installment of PARCC testing, and there is a second installment towards the end of the school year.
The election for the Clinton Board of Education is April 7.
You can hear the entirety of the "Meet the Candidates" forum from Clinton High School below:
[audio:3251515531-32415MeettheCandidatesForumSeg.mp3] [/audio]
[audio:3251515949-32415MeettheCandidatesForumSeg1.mp3] [/audio]
