Achieve Report Highlights “Honesty Gaps” in More than Half of States’ Student Proficiency Ratings

Posted on June 2, 2015May 31, 2015 by coreeducation

A new report by the education reform organization Achieve finds large “honesty gaps” between state-reported proficiency rates in math and reading compared to those on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which is also known as the Nation’s Report Card. The report, Proficient vs. Prepared: Disparities Between State Tests and the 2013 National Assessment Read more about Achieve Report Highlights “Honesty Gaps” in More than Half of States’ Student Proficiency Ratings[…]

PARCC States Vote to Shorten Test Time and Simplify Test Administration

Posted on May 28, 2015May 28, 2015 by coreeducation

The PARCC Governing Board, made up of the state education commissioners and superintendents, voted recently to consolidate the two PARCC testing windows into one and to reduce total test time by about 90 minutes beginning in the 2015-16 school year. The vote came in response to school district and teacher feedback during the first year Read more about PARCC States Vote to Shorten Test Time and Simplify Test Administration[…]

Ten Things to Know About PARCC

Posted on September 24, 2014September 19, 2014 by coreeducation

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) has released a list of 10 things you should know about the PARCC assessments as you start off this school year: PARCC is your state’s homegrown assessment. PARCC is not a testing company – it’s a group of states working together to build better Read more about Ten Things to Know About PARCC[…]

New Assessments: A Guide for State Policymakers

Posted on May 6, 2014May 6, 2014 by coreeducation

States face a critical decision in the next year: how to assess student learning against new college- and career-ready standards. This decision has important ramifications, because testing and assessment have long had a powerful influence on instructional practice. Thus the assessment that states choose will affect teaching and learning in virtually every classroom. This guide Read more about New Assessments: A Guide for State Policymakers[…]

April Issue Brief: The Changing Assessment Landscape

Posted on April 25, 2014 by coreeducation

With pilot tests being conducted and debates raging over Common Core-aligned assessments, new changes proposed for the SAT, and emerging plans for new science assessments, the landscape of educational assessments is changing rapidly. In this month’s issue brief, we have assembled summary information and links that will keep you on the cutting edge. What are Read more about April Issue Brief: The Changing Assessment Landscape[…]

Illinois scraps limits on basic skills test-taking

Posted on April 3, 2014April 3, 2014 by coreeducation

Just four years after passing a law mandating that prospective teachers must pass the Test of Academic Proficiency (TAP) within five attempts, Illinois state board of education officials have scrapped this law in hopes of “manipulating the pipeline” of new teachers. State officials, dismayed at the disproportionately low number of minority teachers compared to minority Read more about Illinois scraps limits on basic skills test-taking[…]

At-A-Glance Summaries of the Six Assessment Consortia

Posted on April 1, 2014 by coreeducation

As several of the assessment consortia begin field-testing this spring, public interest and questions are increasing rapidly. We hope these up-to-date one-page summaries of each of the six multistate consortia are helpful in your communications activities. The Comprehensive Assessment Consortia: PARCC http://www.k12center.org/rsc/pdf/k12_center_parcc.pdf Smarter Balanced http://www.k12center.org/rsc/pdf/k12_center_smarter_balanced.pdf Summary of Key Similarities and Differences http://www.k12center.org/rsc/pdf/key_diffs_handout_march%202014.pdf The Alternate Read more about At-A-Glance Summaries of the Six Assessment Consortia[…]

ED Gives California Testing Pass

Posted on March 13, 2014 by coreeducation

More than 3 million students in grades three through eight won’t have to take older standardized tests this spring while trying out new exams aligned to the Common Core. Thanks to a long-awaited waiver granted by the Education Department, California doesn’t have to collect and report statewide assessment data in the short term. But advocacy Read more about ED Gives California Testing Pass[…]

Superintendent to Parents: Upcoming State Tests Useless

Posted on March 10, 2014September 12, 2020 by coreeducation

Joshua Starr, the superintendent of the Montgomery County, MD, school system in suburban Washington, is no stranger to controversy over mandated testing. This blog covered his past attempt to delay testing aligned with Common Core in order to give his district teachers more time to prepare students for the changes associated with Common Core. Starr Read more about Superintendent to Parents: Upcoming State Tests Useless[…]

AFT Weighs In on Common Core

Posted on June 4, 2013 by coreeducation

As arguments about Common Core abound, Randi Weingarten, the President of the American Federation of Teachers, recently called for a moratorium on “the stakes associated with Common Core assessments until the standards are properly implemented and field-tested.” Here is more from the AFT press release: Weingarten delivered this call in a speech sponsored by the Read more about AFT Weighs In on Common Core[…]

Threats to the Common Core

Posted on May 22, 2013May 22, 2013 by coreeducation

Anne Hyslop at the New America Foundation has pointed out the new partisan tone of debate that has emerged around the Common Core Standards. Hyslop makes clear that the Common Core state initiative is just that—a state led initiative. While the Obama Administration has indeed supported Common Core and has tied its Race to the Read more about Threats to the Common Core[…]

Will the Common Core assessment consortia wither away?

Posted on May 21, 2013 by coreeducation

Chester E. Finn, Jr. of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute believes that Smarter Balanced and PARCC, the two federally-backed Common Core assessment consortia, will lose their place over the next few years to the comprehensive testing apparatus of College Board/ETS and ACT/Pearson. In a new opinion piece for the Fordham Institute’s education blog, the Flypaper, Read more about Will the Common Core assessment consortia wither away?[…]

Common Core Open Resources

Posted on May 15, 2013 by coreeducation

As the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) moves ever closer, debate over them certainly has not slowed, yet that does not mean that the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and others, like the National Math and Science Initiative, aren’t doing their best to make resources available so Read more about Common Core Open Resources[…]

Last Chance to Comment on PARCC Draft Grade- and Subject-Specific PLDs

Posted on May 5, 2013 by coreeducation

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) released the draft grade- and subject-specific performance level descriptors (PLDs) in English language arts/literacy (ELA) and mathematics, and they are available for public comment through May 8, 2013. Performance levels, sometimes referred to as “achievement levels,” are the broad, categorical levels used to report Read more about Last Chance to Comment on PARCC Draft Grade- and Subject-Specific PLDs[…]

Evaluation for Educators in Non-Tested Grades and Subjects

Posted on April 29, 2013April 29, 2013 by coreeducation

With news that 7 teachers in Florida, with the support of the National Education Association, are suing the Florida State Education Department, the issue of how to evaluate teachers is again making headlines. The teachers in Florida assert that their due process and equal protection rights are being violated because they were given evaluation scores Read more about Evaluation for Educators in Non-Tested Grades and Subjects[…]

Pilot Test for Common Core begins in 6,000 schools

Posted on March 17, 2013 by coreeducation

More than one million students are slated to participate in first large-scale trial of online tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards. Members of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) began administering a Pilot Test of the assessment system in schools across the country. The Pilot Test is the first of two large-scale Read more about Pilot Test for Common Core begins in 6,000 schools[…]