Princeton Public Schools (PPS) will administer the 2016 PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) Tests April 11-29 for all students in grades 3 through 11 — but how many students will show up?

In its first year last year nearly 800 of 1164 students in grades nine through 11 declined to take the PARCC, with only 30 of 370 juniors taking the test, though participation numbers were higher in the elementary and middle school grades.

This year the test itself and the plans for administering it have been significantly improved from last year, according to both the State Department of Education (DOE) and the Princeton Public Schools, but the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) teachers’ union and Save Our Schools NJ parents and community members organization and many other students, parents and teachers remain skeptical.

Clearly last year’s criticisms of the test, along with some technology and other logistical problems, were noted by both the District and the State, and this year’s test should run more smoothly, with higher participation levels. But the controversy has not abated.

Parents who choose not to have their children take the PARCC must submit a written statement to their children’s principal by April 4.

PPS Superintendent Steve Cochrane emphasized both the improved administration of testing and the value of these tests. “We were able to modify the testing schedule this year at the high school so that students will not have testing running concurrently with their class schedule,” he said. “We are confident this will make it easier for students to participate in testing and still move forward with the learning in their regular classes”

Acquisition and combining of technology resources has enabled the high school to test all students in grades 9-11 at the same time and reduce the school-wide testing window from three weeks to only one for each grade level: April 11-14 for Princeton High School; April 18-22 for John Witherspoon Middle School; April 11-15 for grade five; April 18-22 for grade four; April 25-29 for grade three. Last year there were two testing sessions, one in March and one in May. Total testing time this year will be reduced by approximately 90 minutes.

Mr. Cochrane argued that for the PARCC test “no additional PARCC-specific test prep work, which takes time away from meaningful teaching and learning, is necessary or desirable. Stated simply: good instruction leads to good test results.”

The PPS website explained, “Our teachers and administrators have worked to align our district curriculum to the Common Core, and our teachers and students have been working with these standards since 2010. PARCC is the assessment that has been specifically designed to ensure student progress in the Common Core. Because of the work done by PPS teachers to meet the high-level learning expectations set forth by the Common Core Standards in each classroom, we believe that our students are well prepared for the content and skills assessed through PARCC.”

Julia Sass Rubin, associate professor of planning and public policy at Rutgers’ Bloustein School and the mother of an eighth grader at John Witherspoon, disagreed. “It’s a bad test, an unproven test,” she said. “But we don’t advocate refusal. We advocate for parents to have options and information. There’s bad information and misinformation out there. We want to make sure that people are informed.”

A co-founder of Save Our Schools NJ, Ms. Rubin stated that Princeton Schools’ handling of the test was more fair and helpful than that of many other districts, but she criticized the lack of publicity in promoting the refusal option. “The school district has not published the refusal policy, but they have it on their website and they have not misled parents,” she said.

Stating that the school district is under political pressure to reduce absenteeism, Ms. Rubin explained that the State cannot withhold funds from schools because of low student participation. “There’s no real threat, no consequences,” she said. “Schools will not lose money if parents and schools opt out.”

The controversial PARCC Tests have been described by the NJEA as “fundamentally flawed instruments that are expensive, time-consuming, and do not improve instruction or student achievement.” The NJEA reported that New Jersey is one of only seven states administering the PARCC Tests, with 17 states originally committed to the tests having dropped PARCC over the past five years.

“The test doesn’t measure what you want it to measure,” Ms. Rubin claimed. “It skews and distorts the whole process. The student’s academic transcript is a better gauge of ability and learning — years of daily effort versus how you do on a test on one day.”

She described the tests as a reflection of parental income rather than educational level, as an incentive to narrow the curriculum and de-emphasize the arts “because what gets tested is what gets taught, and as a time-consuming, expensive, discriminatory measurement, particularly in the cases of special needs students, low-income students and non-native speakers.”

The long-term future of the embattled PARCC test in New Jersey and the nation is uncertain. The NJDOE has announced that passing scores on designated PARCC tests will be a graduation requirement, but because the test is relatively new current high school students are allowed to use other standardized assessments to meet the requirement, and there is also a “portfolio assessment” option.

The PPS website explains, “The new state-mandated graduation requirements are currently being debated and may change over the next few years.”

Ms. Rubin’s view is that the state DOE “is building this plane in mid-flight,” and she added, “The District is in a bind. Parents are not. They can say no without any consequences. There is no compelling reason for students to take this test.”

PPS, however, states on its website, “The assessments are based on the Common Core Standards, which focus on critical thinking skills and students’ ability to read, write, speak, listen and solve ‘real-world’ problems independently. The standards were developed with the goal of ensuring all students are college and career ready.”