PARCC and Google Forms

Google Forms has a lot of similarities with the PARCC test, which makes it an excellent tool for embedding PARCC practice into your lessons.

Multiple Choice vs. Multiple Select
In one type of question, students will be required to select the ONE correct option from multiple choices.  In another type of question, they will need to select multiple choices.  Both the PARCC test and Google forms use circles to represent answer choices that have ONE correct option and squares to represent answer choices where students are able to select multiple options.

Left:  PARCC TestNav 8 Tutorial, Right:  Google Forms

Videos
The PARCC test may require students to watch video clips.  Students will need to know how to play, pause, and move the slider to start the video at a certain point.  Google Forms will help your students practice this skill as it allows you to insert YouTube videos into your form.
*Warning:  At the end of the video, You Tube shows suggested videos.  These suggestions may not be appropriate for your students.  However, I believe it is worthwhile to teach students what to do when inappropriate content appears online vs. avoiding this tool.

Top:  PARCC TestNav 8 Tutorial, Bottom:  Google Forms

Drop Down Choices
Students will need to know how to use drop down menus to answer one type of question on the PARCC.  The "Choose from a list" question type on Google Forms allows students to practice this type of question.  However, it's not a perfect match with the example question provided by the PARCC TestNav 8 Tutorial.   You'll see below that the example question from the PARCC tutorial has students writing a number sentence using multiple drop down choices whereas in the Google Forms example students are only able to select from ONE drop down menu per question.

Top:  PARCC TestNav 8 Tutorial, Bottom:  Google Forms

Writing in a Box
A colleague of mine shared with me that students were required to write in a box on the PARCC pilot test they took last year and thought they had to make their response fit into the box.  What they didn't realize was that if they kept writing scroll bars would have appeared that would allow them to compose a longer response.  This question type is available as "Paragraph text" on Google Forms.

Google Forms in Your Daily Lessons
Here are some quick ideas for incorporating Google Forms into your lessons.

• Make a quiz
• Record results from a lab
• Respond to reading
• Survey your class
• Create forms as a class to gather data for analysis
• So many more great ideas shared here by Tom Barrett