montville township high school - Montville Township Public Schools

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Mar 8, 2017 - ... of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessments will be ... All Vo Tech students, who are req
Montville Township High School 100 HORSENECK ROAD



MONTVILLE, NJ 07045



(973) 331-7100

Douglas Sanford, Principal Kenneth Nadzak, Assistant Principal Michael C. Shera, Assistant Principal Leslee J. Scheckman, Director of School Counseling William Koch, Supervisor of Athletics ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

March 8, 2017

Dear Parent/Guardian: On February 24, 2017, a letter was released to the community outlining the details of the PARCC assessment for high school students. Because of several reasons, we are releasing a revised letter. Please disregard the letter from February 24 and refer to this letter in its entirety. This year, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessments will be administered to students beginning on Wednesday, March 29, 2017, and concluding on Thursday, April 6, 2017. All grade 9-12 students enrolled in English 9/English I, English 10/English II, or English 11/English III (including AP English Language & Composition, unless students have registered to take the AP English Language & Composition exam), and Algebra I, Geometry, or Algebra II will be taking the PARCC Assessment. A detailed calendar and class schedule is contained within this letter. Please refer to page 4 of the 2017-2018 Program of Studies on the high school website (www.montville.net/mths) for further information about standardized testing and graduation requirements.

Students taking PARCC: The seven days of PARCC Assessments will be full days of school. All students taking the PARCC assessment are to report to homeroom by 7:25 a.m. In most instances, this location will be their testing location. Students will be notified if their homeroom has been assigned to a different location. According to state requirements, if a student is not present in the room at the start of the test, he/she will not be permitted to take the test on that day. These students must take the makeup test the week following spring break, which will cause them to miss their morning classes. As per Dr. Rovtar’s recent letter to the community, which can be accessed by clicking here, there is no “opt-out” of the PARCC Assessment. If a parent or guardian refuses to allow his or her child to test, the parent or guardian needs to follow the directions outlined in the letter. The regular attendance policy will be in effect throughout the seven days of testing. Students whose parents or guardians refuse to allow them to test are still expected to attend classes, as scheduled. Class attendance will be taken. Students who are absent will be marked accordingly. There is considerable research that supports improved student achievement through healthy nutrition and sleep habits. As such, please stress this with your son/daughter, and make sure he/she gets a good night’s rest before each assessment day, along with a nutritious breakfast each morning. According to state regulations, students are not permitted to have cell phones, MP3 players, or any other unauthorized electronic devices in any testing room. If a student is found to be in possession of a cellular phone or any other prohibited material while in the testing room, the student will be dismissed from the testing environment, and the test may be invalidated by the State Education Agency.

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The PARCC Assessment is a computerized test. Necessary tools (including calculators) for taking the test will be accessible on the computer. If your son/daughter prefers to work with a hand-held calculator for the calculator approved math sections, please read below under “Important Information about Testing.”

Seniors and other students not testing: On the days of PARCC testing, students who are not participating can either report to school at the regular time or no later than 9:20 a.m. Upon arriving at school, students who are reporting at the regular time will report to the cafeteria. During the time of testing, they will be offered a quiet study so they are asked to bring materials to read or work on. Regular busing will be provided to these students and all Vo- Tech students. Students who wish to arrive at 9:20 a.m. will need to provide their own transportation, as there will be no late busing. Students arriving after 9:20 a.m. will be considered late. A homeroom for the whole school will take place at 9:25 a.m. in normal homeroom locations.

All students: As previously mentioned, busing will be provided in the same manner as any other day. In the event the school day is canceled or we experience a delayed opening, testing for that day will be rescheduled. Additionally, if we experience a delayed opening, all students will still follow our regular delayed opening bell schedule. All Vo Tech students, who are required to test, are expected to be at the high school to take the PARCC Assessment at the scheduled times. The student should notify Vo-Tech if they will be absent because of the PARCC Assessment. Thank you for your cooperation in this most important matter. If you have any questions, please contact the School Counseling Office at (973) 331-7100, ext. 2645. Sincerely,

Douglas Sanford

Leslee J. Scheckman

Principal

Director of School Counseling

Important Information About Testing  Students need to bring sharpened #2 pencils with erasers.  Calculators will be available online as a testing tool for math sections that permit their usage. Hand-held calculators will not be provided. If a student wishes to bring his/her own calculator, it must meet the following requirements: Only graphing calculators are allowed (with functionalities consistent with TI-84 or a similar model) unless a student’s IEP/504 accommodation permits the student to use a lower level version with limited functionality. No calculators with Computer Algebra Systems (CAS) or QWERTY keyboards are allowed. No tablet, laptop (or PDA) or phone-based calculators are allowed. The memory on the handheld calculators must be cleared.  Math Units: Rulers and protractors will be available online as testing tools. If students would like to bring their own rulers and protractors, they are welcome to do so. They will not be provided during testing.  Head-sets will be provided to students during the ELA section of the test. If students prefer to use their own head-sets or ear buds, they may bring them.  Students may bring recreational books to the testing room (subject matter of recreational books must be unrelated to the content being assessed). Page 2 of 4

 Students may not bring electronic devices (i.e., cell phones, MP3 players, iPods, personal eBooks, electronic pens, smart watches, etc.) to the testing sessions. These items must remain in their lockers.  Students may not bring food/drinks (unless they have a documented medical condition or have extended time for testing) to the testing sessions.

 For further information about PARCC, please refer to Dr. Rovtar’s letter (dated February 1, 2017), which can be accessed by clicking here. Additionally, please refer to the link for PARCC Parent Information on the home page of our district website, http://www.montville.net/domain/945.  To receive a score, students must complete all units of any given test.  Students who are entitled to extended time for testing should plan to bring their own lunch on testing days.  There will be make-up days for students who miss one or more sections of their Math and/or ELA PARCC tests.

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PARCC TESTING SCHEDULE End of testing time may need to be modified based on time requirements for test sections

Wed. 3/29 (Day 1) PARCC 7:25 7:25 - 9:20 9:25 – 9:29 9:32 – 10:09 10:13 – 10:50 10:54 – 11:31 11:31 – 12:11 12:11 – 12:48 12:52 – 1:29 1:33 – 2:10

Thurs. 3/30 (Day 2)

Fri. 3/31 (Day 3)

Mon. 4/3 (Day 4)

Tues. 4/4 (Day 1)

Wed. 4/5 (Day 2)

Thurs. 4/6 (Day 3)

Math

Math Math English English English English Report to testing room/homeroom or other assigned location Testing for all students in Algebra I, Geometry, and Testing for all students in English I (9), English II (10), and Algebra II: report to assigned testing room. English III (11): report to assigned testing room. All students who are not testing: report to the cafeteria. Homeroom Homeroom Homeroom

Period 1 Period 2 Period 3 Lunch/Lab Period 5 Period 6 Period 7

Period 2 Period 3 Period 4 Lunch/Lab Period 6 Period 7 Period 8

Period 3 Period 4 Period 1 Lunch/Lab Period 7 Period 8 Period 5

All students who are not testing: report to the cafeteria. Homeroom Homeroom Homeroom Homeroom

Period 4 Period 1 Period 1 Period 2 Period 2 Period 3 Lunch/Lab Lunch/Lab Period 8 Period 5 Period 5 Period 6 Period 6 Period 7

Period 2 Period 3 Period 3 Period 4 Period 4 Period 1 Lunch/Lab Lunch/Lab Period 6 Period 7 Period 7 Period 8 Period 8 Period 5

It should be noted that these seven days will be considered normal school days, regardless of whether students choose to participate in the PARCC Assessment. This means that homework can be given, assessments/presentations can occur, and instruction will take place in all classes. Additional information:  Montville Township Public Schools has been randomly selected to participate in an ELA field test. This accounts for the four units of testing for English as compared to the three units of testing for math.  Marking period 3 was originally scheduled to end on Thursday, April 6. MTHS will end marking period 3 on Friday, March 31. This marking period adjustment is limited to MTHS, and this change does not affect the other schools in the district.

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