Standardized Testing and the Common Core Standards: You Get What You Pay For?
Eighty-five percent of American students attend school in a state that has adopted the Common Core State Standards. As these states transition from adoption to implementation of the new standards, many are grappling with how best to assess whether students are learning the material contained in the Common Core. Debates about the costs and merits of Common Core tests are raging in states across the country. In this report, Brown Center Fellow Matthew M. Chingos critically examines the likely costs of the various assessment options that are available to states, but urges states to also consider test quality in addition to cost when choosing an assessment.
This report analyzes the tests being developed by PARCC and SBAC (the two consortia of states that have received federal funding), as well as other alternative offerings that are currently or soon to be available on the marketplace. The estimated costs of PARCC and SBAC tests ($29.50 and $22.50 per student, respectively) are not far from the nationwide average of what states currently pay for their existing tests, but many states have still expressed concerns about these costs.
Such concerns about the cost of the consortia’s tests likely stem in part from a sense of uncertainty because the consortia have announced estimates, but not firm prices. States may be concerned that the price will go up, especially if states leave the consortia, and that they will be left without an affordable alternative. Opponents of the Common Core may be