Santa Fe, NM – Responding to parents and students who are concerned about the over-use of standardized tests, Senate Majority Leader Michael S. Sanchez (D-29-Valencia, Bernalillo) today challenged Governor Susana Martinez and her Secretary of Education, Hanna Skandera, to take the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exam themselves to find out if they can pass it. PARCC stands for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. All public school students in New Mexico grades 3-11 are required to complete the new computerized test beginning next Monday, lasting all week.
“I am challenging Governor Martinez and Secretary Skandera to take the PARCC test themselves – no prepping or cheating – to find out if they can pass it,” said Sen. Sanchez. “Legislators have heard the parents, the teachers and the students who are impacted by this controversial high-stakes exam. It is no laughing matter when you have to take the exam yourself.”
PARCC is a new all-computerized, standardized test being put to children statewide, taking 9 hours over several days to complete. Its purpose is to measure students’ proficiency in math, reading and writing. Parents, teachers and students have criticized the test for being unfair, and taking too much time away from classroom instruction. Elsewhere in the U.S. states now are putting moratoriums on using the results of PARCC assessments to make key decisions affecting students, teachers and schools, including student placement, opportunity to graduate, and school evaluation.
Sen. Sanchez said if the pair pass the PARCC test successfully, he will treat them to breakfast burritos. If they fail, however, Sen. Sanchez challenged them to spend a full day in a 3rd grade classroom assisting teachers.