With the first year of PARCC testing complete, now is a critical time to take stock of the lessons learned from the first year of implementation, and to review legal requirements and emerging legal issues.
NJSBA, with Legal One, a partner of the Foundation for Education Administration (FEA), will hold a half-day program on PARCC on June 17 at the Foundation for Educational Administration building at 12 Centre Drive in Monroe Township.
This workshop is designed for school administrators, testing coordinators, school board members, school attorneys and others interested in the future of state testing.
Newly Added Presenter Bari Erlichson, New Jersey Department of Education chief performance officer, and assistant commissioner of data, research, evaluation and reporting, will be the keynote speaker for the event. Additional presenters will include Michael Kaelber, NJSBA director, legal and labor relations services; David Nash, Legal One director; Nicole Moore, principal, Indian Mills School, Shamong and member of the Governor’s Study Commission on the Use of Student Assessments in New Jersey; Brian Robinson, principal, Rieck Avenue School, Millville and former New Jersey Department of Education director of assessment.
Participants will learn about:
- Current state and federal requirements related to student testing, including a review of constitutional provisions and case law often cited by testing opponents;
- Implications for districts, school administrators, teachers and students who refuse to participate in PARCC, including the impact on funding, administrator and teacher evaluation and tenure, and student discipline;
- Test security in the age of social media, including issues related to student postings on social media;
- Understanding the line between staff members’ First Amendment rights to express views on state testing and actions which constitute insubordination or conduct unbecoming;
- The recommendations and ongoing work of the Governor’s Study Commission on the Use of Student Assessments in New Jersey;
- Lessons learned from practitioners from school districts and how they addressed various testing issues; and
- Steps that should be taken proactively to prepare for 2015-2016 PARCC testing.
Information is available online. The conference will be held from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.; the cost is $150. An application is pending for 6.0 New Jersey CLE credits.