Common Core testing showdown in Massachusetts
As the state considers what standardized test to give this spring, here’s a closer look at two of the options
Massachusetts could further undermine the commonness of the Common Core standards when it votes this month on which standardized test the state will use this spring.
The Massachusetts Board of Education is deciding whether to use a multi-state test, the Partnership for Assessing College and Career Readiness, known as PARCC, or to stick with its own test.
In 2010, the 45 states that adopted the Common Core State Standards, a set of guidelines for what students should be able to do in each grade in English and math, were part of two multi-state groups. PARCC and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium designed tests that would measure the new standards and be given to millions of students across the country. For the first time, the results of annual standardized tests would be comparable across states lines to give educators and researchers a more complete picture of how students in different parts of the country were performing.
But as controversy around the standards – and the testing that accompanies them – has grown, states have dropped out of the tests or dropped the standards entirely. PARCC has been particularly hard hit, going from 26 states to seven. Experts and advocates around the Common Core testing showdown in Massachusetts - The Hechinger Report:
