JENNINGS – Jeff Davis Parish schools are busily preparing students for a battery of tests including the new PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) which get underway this spring.

“We want parents to understand and realize that the days of everybody focusing on one week of testing is gone,” Superintendent Brian Lejeune said. “We are pretty much testing the whole year now starting in March and running through the end of the year.”

Testing begins with the Explore Test for eighth grade students, March 9-13.

Testing for all students grades 3-8 will begin with the PARCC phase I testing March 16-20 with three days of testing in English/language arts and two days of math. Those students will then take the LEAP and iLEAP tests in science and Social Studies April 14 and 15 after returning from spring break. The second phase of the PARCC testing will be administered May 4-8.

Many students “field tested” the PARCC exam last spring.

Ninth grade students will take the Explore Test, March 9-13 while tenth graders will take the Plan Test.

All juniors will take the ACT test on March 17.

End-of-course testing in English II and III, algebra I, geometry, biology and U.S. history is set for April 22-May 21.

“We need parents and students to understand that all phases of all tests are required to be taken by all students,” Lejeune said, noting that every tests counts for the school and the district. “Every student test result earns the school and districts points for overall grades.”

Students need to do their best on every test, he said.

“If a student passes one test, doesn’t mean they don’t need to try on another test,” he said.

Many of the tests will determine what a student’s future will allow including TOPS, Jump Start and dual enrollment courses, he said.

Lejeune said school officials do not want to put pressure on students or teachers, but stressed that everyone should be “prepared and ready to do well.”

“The biggest change is going to be what used to be done in one week, will now take place over several weeks,” he said.

The new tests will also be “more rigorous” and require students to use independent thinking and write more. Gone are the days of fill-in-the-circle and multiple choice answers.

“It’s not about memorizing things anymore,” he said. “It’s more about finding information and utilizing that information to answer questions.”

Many of the answers will need to be in written form.

“The days of teachers standing in front of the classroom and students writing down what the teacher says is gone,” Lejeune said. “Now it is more student interaction with students having to find the answers and use it to solve a problem.”

Lejeune said teachers have been making adjustments to ready students for the new test. Teachers have been working with students on developing responses, targeting weaknesses and practicing sample questions, he said.

For more on PARCC including practice tests and sample questions go online at www.parcconline.org.(MGNonline)