PARCC Test Fairness and Security

The business community relies heavily on data for measuring and understanding its performance and opportunities.  So, it is no surprise that MBAE has strongly supported the effective use of data to improve instruction and assess the performance of many aspects of our education system.  Regardless of why or how data is collected, it is paramount that student privacy is protected and that aggregate data for schools and districts is secure and safe from unauthorized use.  For this reason, we’ve paid close attention to concerns raised about data and privacy during the field tests of the PARCC assessments.

Opponents of college- and career- ready standards established by the Common Core State Standards, and related assessments, have taken to social media to chastise test developer Pearson for “spying” on students.  They charge Pearson with monitoring student cyberspace activity during the test.

Pearson has issued a statement in response, providing answers to critical questions and saying it is:

“contractually required by states to monitor public conversations on social media to ensure that no assessment information that is secure and not public is improperly disclosed.”

“The security of a test is critical to ensure fairness for all students and teachers and to ensure that the results of any assessment are trustworthy and valid,” the statement said. “But when test questions or elements are posted publicly to the Internet, we are obligated to alert PARCC states.”

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has a policy on collection and use of student data, and the practices for PARCC are similar to what has been in place during the administration of the MCAS exams.  The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC), has also posted its policy on test fairness and security and addressed it in a recent newsletter.  PARCC also points out that the practices it is using are standard for tests such as the SAT and ACT.

When past controversies have arisen over student education data, we have looked to the National Data Quality Campaign for objective information and expert advice about effective use of data to improve student achievement.  The organization has many resources on safeguarding student privacy and issued a statement that emphasized,

“In fact, states using the assessments designed by the consortia (PARCC is one) don’t have any different federal reporting requirements than states using other assessments or other academic standards.”

It is important for parents and all citizens to be vigilant about data safety.  We must also, however, look for verifiable factual information before assuming that every allegation raised about this controversial issue is accurate.