Saying they want to ensure that parents have a chance to ask questions about new standardized testing that will debut this spring, district officials have scheduled three informational sessions this week.
The sessions—scheduled as follows—will center on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium or “SBAC” test that soon will be given to grades three through eight and also grade 11, said Board of Education Chairman Hazel Hobbs:
- March 23: Board of Education Meeting – All parents and community members welcome. Special presentation on Assessment at all grade levels. 7 p.m. Wagner Room, NCHS;
- March 24: Meeting for parents of New Canaan High School students. Presentation for NCHS parents—1:30 p.m. in the Wagner Room, NCHS;
- March 25: Meeting for parents of Saxe Middle School students. Presentation for Saxe parents—11 a.m. in Room #102, Saxe Middle School;
- March 26: Meeting for parents of New Canaan Elementary School students. Presentation for parents of students at East, South, and West – 1:30 p.m. in South School Cafeteria.
Each session will be administered by program chairs and Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Dr. Jill Correnty, Hobbs said.
“Because they’re new, we’d like to answer people’s questions or any concerns they might have,” she said.
The idea behind breaking up the informational sessions by level is that parents of students in the same grades may have similar questions or concerns about the nuts and bolts of the tests, Hobbs said.
Parents with students at more than one level are welcome to attend the presentations for all those levels, Hobbs said.
Administered on a test basis last year (see feedback here), the new assessments align with Common Core—a set of standards in math and English designed to yield apples-to-apples comparisons in student achievement and teaching performance across states and districts. Its motto is “Preparing America’s Students for Success.”
The info sessions come on the heels of 100-plus people, mostly from New Canaan, signing an online petition two weeks ago that called for “an open and informational dialogue” with New Canaan Public Schools about the SBAC.