Wayne Township Public Schools
Schools School Calendar Parent Portal Community Flyers Contact Us
Volume 087 | February 25, 2016 | About This E-Newsletter Follow our RSS feed   
PARCC Testing Dates Are As Follows:

Elementary Grades 3-5: April 12 through April 29
Middle School: April 12 through May 5
High School: April 11 through April 15, April 18 through April 22, and April 25 through April 29

PARCC Letter to Parents from the Superintendent of Schools:
February 25, 2016

Dear Parents and Guardians:

parcc Last school year, the district faced a major challenge with the implementation of the New Jersey Department Education's new standardized testing program. The test, known as the PARCC (Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers), created quite a stir in New Jersey and many students and parents refused the test. In Wayne, our district test scores suffered, especially at the high school level.

A year later, we learned much about the PARCC and we learned more about our school district. Overall, our students fared well and those who completed the test outperformed the state average by a significant margin. When comparing student in-school performance to PARCC performance, we learned that there is a good correlation at some, but not at all grade levels. We also know that the New Jersey Department of Education reduced the number of testing days in response to the many students, parents, teachers, and administrators who expressed concerns about the loss of instructional time.

Our next round of testing is just around the corner. While we do encourage you to allow your child to take the PARCC, we also understand that some parents may decide that the PARCC is not something they would like their child to take. Legally, we are not able to provide parents with an option to opt out of the state required testing program. However, we also realize that some parents may not want their children to take the PARCC and we have a procedure that we followed last year. While not perfect, it worked well for most parents because it is about as simple as it gets. You simply need to send a letter or an email to your building principal and in response you will receive a letter confirming your decision to refuse the PARCC on behalf of your child.

We also learned that concerns about high school graduation led to an expansion of the standardized testing pathways high school students may use to meet high school graduation requirements and clear the way for graduation. On the following pages, you will see the many ways high school students may demonstrate proficiency. A caution to high school parents that refusing the PARCC in the junior year may have unexpected consequences. We currently have a significant number of high school seniors who refused the PARCC, did not perform well enough on other standardized tests, and are not in position to graduate. While we hope some of the spring standardized tests will help, it is a serious issue that high school parents and students need to consider.

Overall, we are well prepared for the next round of PARCC testing and we encourage you to communicate with your building principal if you have any questions about the PARCC. Please click here to see our best effort to answer frequently asked PARCC questions.

Sincerely,

Mark Toback. Ed. D.
Superintendent of Schools

Spring Lake Day Camp
Wayne Schools Recognize Educators of the Year

educators-year The Wayne Township Public Schools are proud to recognize our Governor's Educators of the Year selections for each of our schools for the 2015-2016 school year. Great teachers make such a difference in the lives of children and in many cases influence students far beyond the classroom.

Please take a moment to read about our teachers by looking through our flipbooks and slideshows.

We're certain you will enjoy reading about some of the many excellent teachers working in the Wayne Township Public Schools by viewing our Elementary Educators of the Year Flipbook and Slideshow, and our Secondary Educators of the Year Flipbook and Slideshow.

Congratulations to all of our Educators!




Wayne PAL
Little Footsteps
ban-waynesavings-200x400






More -->>


District Calendar
School District Advertising
This e-mail has been sent to you by the WAYNE TOWNSHIP SCHOOL DISTRICT. All content has been approved by the Wayne Township Public Schools. If you wish to discontinue this e-mail service, please unsubscribe below. Interested in ADVERTISING within this e-newsletter? Please contact Moving Media at School District Advertising by sending an e-mail to [email protected] or call 973-983-1919 Ext 300.