2101 N. Main St
Nappanee, IN 46550

Phone: 574-773-4127
Fax: 574-773-4099

October 2010

Educational Review For Parents

October 2010

by Principal David L. Maugel

I recently read an article, “U.S. Tests Awaiting Big Shifts” by Catherine Gewertz and Erik W. Robelen, in the September 15, 2010 edition of Education Week.

The article stated that the U.S. Department of Education had awarded $330 million in grants to two groups of states, Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers Consortium (PARCC) and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC). Indiana is listed among the PARCC states. The two groups indicated they would combine the results from performance-based tasks administered with a more traditional end-of-the-year measure for school accountability purposes. Also, the groups agreed that the plan was to administer their year-end assessments via computer.

We will continue to see the development of a national testing system to meet the demands of the current grant offered by the U.S. Department of Education. I encourage all of us to communicate with our legislators on how these funds will be funneled back to the local level.

Oh, by the way, NorthWood High School earned 90.7% and 80.7% passing the current End-of-the-Course-Assessments (ECA) in mathematics and English respectfully.

Mr. Maugel writes a monthly review of materials he has found from journals, magazines, or other articles that may be of interest to parents.