Please see Message below. Due to number of requests for more detailed information, we will have a televised School Committee presentation on June 10th, AND,  an additional open information session for parents, staff and the public on Wednesday June 18^th, at 6:30 p.m., Room F101, Hudson High School.

Kevin Lyons and Jodi Fortuna

Dear Parents and Staff,

Our District must make a decision by June 30^th to start testing with PARCC next year or to continue with MCAS for one more year. Dr. Fortuna and I will be making a recommendation to the Hudson School Committee in this regard on June 24^th.

There is no easy answer to the question about which way to go. We see one major argument to jump into PARCC next year and one major argument to stay with MCAS for one more year.

Use PARCC in 2014-2015 to measure student achievement and progress.

Massachusetts has adopted the National Common Core for English and Math and the PARCC tests were designed to measure achievement on these standards. We have been working diligently to align our curriculum to the common core standards. The MCAS was constructed to measure progress on the “old” Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.

 Use MCAS in 2014-2015 to measure student achievement and progress.

We have the capacity to administer MCAS without purchasing new technology (PARCC will require an investment in technology to use the on-line version) and we will let the state get the problems and issues worked out before we jump into it.

 Additional Information

 ·         10th Graders will continue to test on MCAS through the graduating class of 2017 regardless of this decision for other grades next year.
·         Science and Engineering will continue to be tested with a Massachusetts State Assessment because no PARCC test has been developed in this area.

·         Districts will have the opportunity to choose either paper and pencil format tests and or computerized tests next year
·         Districts choosing PARCC next year will not be penalized in their accountability ratings if students do less well on PARCC (next year only).
·         MCAS will go away after next year except for 10^th graders. Using PARCC will acquaint our students and teachers with the new test and format which will be used going forward.

We are interested in your feedback. For brief comments, please use the Superintendent’s Listening Post http://www.hudson.k12.ma.us/about-us/your-voice to reply. For longer comments, please reply to this message. More detailed information will be presented at the School Committee meeting on June 10^th.

Kevin and Jodi