New Jersey: PARCC Testing Takes Toll on Some N.J. Schools (and School Libraries)

From NJ.com:

The A-H fiction section at Union High School’s library offers about 3,000 titles, according to the school librarian.
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But during March and early April, when the library was used for the computerized Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)testing, most of those books were off-limits to the school’s students, librarian Doris D’Elia said.
“About half of my fiction section is blocked because of the way they put my tables in and the wiring they installed for a temporary lab for PARCC,” D’Elia said. “We can’t even get to the books.”
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It felt like it was more important to take the test than to provide instruction,” said Arlen Kimmelman president of the New Jersey Association of School Librarians.
School libraries, with open space and an existing supply of computers, were a common testing site during the first round of PARCC testing, which lasted between one and four weeks in schools across New Jersey depending on their size.

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