So frustrated.  Still no idea why we as a state are doing this.  I feel like a failure as a math teacher.  I have no idea how to help my students.  I have been nominated for a Presidential award this year and don’t even want to fill out the paperwork.   Every ninth grader in Mississippi has to take this test about which we know very little.  They have to use technology that that haven’t had access to.  The test isn’t normed and the items don’t even have validity.  We won’t know the results until October. And then we will have to remediate these kids for their graduation requirements FOR THREE YEARS because every kid will fail the test — unless the cut score is embarrassingly low.  

Meanwhile we might miss yet another day of school tomorrow due to snow.  And my students have to take this PBA a week from tomorrow.  And I don’t even know the time structure for the PBA — how many minutes should they spend per question?  PARCC has not emailed me back.  Will the computer cut off when their time is up?  PARCC has not emailed me back.  My students deserve to know what to expect and I can not tell them.  

What percentage of their overall math score for graduation requirement does the PBA count?  Is it 30%? 50%?  

And what will we do next year as a state?  Abandon this PARCC ship (which we should have done last summer when we knew the development was 18 months behind schedule) and give our own tests?  Written by whom? Will we go back to paper and pencil?  

Too many questions.  Not enough answers.