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Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers

 

  Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers  

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Vince Verges
Florida PARCC Project Director
325 West Gaines Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400


Phone: 850-245-7862

About Us

The U.S. Department of Education awarded “Race to the Top” assessment funds to the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC or Partnership) for the development of a K-12 assessment system aligned to the Common Core State Standards in English, language arts and mathematics. Florida is a member of this Partnership of 23 states, whose primary goal is to help states dramatically increase the number of students who graduate from high school ready for college and careers. Together the PARCC states educate approximately 25 million K-12 public school students in the United States. The 19 Governing States who are leading the assessment development effort on behalf of the larger Partnership include: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Tennessee. Florida is also serving as the fiscal agent of this Partnership.

Tracking PARCC Progress

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) maintains a dedicated PARCC website. This website is meant to provide all interested parties with more information and timely updates on the progress of the 22-state PARCC consortium as it develops a next-generation common assessment system that will help ensure all students graduate from high school ready for college and careers.

If you wish to receive periodic e-mails regarding the latest information on PARCC progress in Florida, or when updates are made to this web page, you may subscribe to the Department's email list designated for this purpose. Subscribers to this list will also receive updates on Florida's Race to the Top interim assessments.

Users may also subscribe to the FDOE paperless communications list, and users may also review the FDOE Communications & External Affairs page.

PARCC Assessment Frequently Asked Questions (PDF, 88KB)

Proposed PARCC Test Times Compared with Current FCAT/ EOC Test Times (PDF, 88KB)

Key PARCC Florida Implementation Activities - January - March, 2013

  • At meetings of various stakeholder groups across Florida, attendees received updates on PARCC activities. Updates will be provided at annual convenings of state and regional educator groups as they are requested and as presenters are available.
  • Educators from across the state and staff from the Department convened in January, February, and March with other representatives from PARCC states to continue test item review activities, as well as to draft PARCC Performance Level Descriptors. In partnership with Achieve staff and the item development contractors, item development and review activities will continue over the next two years, and will continue to involve K-12 and higher-education faculty and staff from across the state.

The Florida Department of Education has remained very active in its role as a governing state in the consortium. Department staff have been heavily involved in helping to lead PARCC work, including development of the assessment and educator supports. This work has been in coordination with other relevant areas within the Department, including communications, postsecondary, curriculum, instruction, exceptional student education, language acquisition, career and adult education, accountability, K-12 assessment, and Race to the Top efforts.

Procurement for PARCC Components

Since Florida is serving as PARCC’s fiscal agent, many procurements for the Partnership will be managed through the Florida Department of Education’s Bureau of Contracts, Grants, and Procurement. Most associated procurement documents can be accessed through the Office of Procurement, Contracts & Leasing when they become publicly available. On that page is a link for vendors to register as required with MyFloridaMarketPlace if they have not previously registered. Also, vendors can elect to be placed on the vendor bid list and can elect to receive other procurement information.

From time to time, other PARCC Governing states may be called upon to assist Florida with PARCC procurements. Contacts for procurements in these cases will be provided in the section below.

All vendor contact regarding procurement for any PARCC component should occur through the formal procurement process. Any other vendor contact with Achieve staff or staff in PARCC states may jeopardize the vendor’s participation in competitive solicitations.

Solicitation Updates

A joint award for PARCC Test Item Development was made to both Pearson and ETS, and each contractor is involving a number of subcontractors specializing in test development and related fields. Contractors will develop English language arts/literacy and mathematics items, tasks and related materials for the mid-year, performance-based, and end-of-year assessments. The work will generate a large bank of items to support the construction of assessments for grades 3-11 which will be given in PARCC states beginning in the 2014-15 school year.

The PARCC Assessment Administration contract, which includes all field testing activities, was awarded to Pearson. This contract will be managed by the Florida Department of Education.