U.S. Secretary of Education Duncan Announces Education Grant Awards aimed at Improving Student Assessments. Two winning applications composed of 44 States and D.C. Win Grants to Fund Assessments Based on Common Core Standards.
The grant requests, totaling approximately $330 million, are part of the Race to the Top competition and will be awarded as follows.
Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, (PARCC), (PARCC) is a coalition of 26 states including AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, DC, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, MS, ND, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC and TN.
The PARCC coalition will test students' ability to read complex text, complete research projects, excel at classroom speaking and listening assignments, and work with digital media. PARCC will also replace the one end-of-year high stakes accountability test with a series of assessments throughout the year that will be averaged into one score for accountability purposes, reducing the weight given to a single test administered on a single day, and providing valuable information to students and teachers throughout the year.
The SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium is a coalition of 31 states including AL, CO, CT, DE, GA, HI, IA, ID, KS, KY, ME, MI, MO, MT, NC, ND, NH, NJ, NM, NV, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, UT, VT, WA, WI, and WV. The assessments will be ready for use by the 2014-15 school year.
The SMARTER coalition will test students using computer adaptive technology that will ask students tailored questions based on their previous answers. SMARTER will continue to use one test at the end of the year for accountability purposes, but will create a series of interim tests used to inform students, parents, and teachers about whether students are on track.
For both consortia, these periodic assessments could replace already existing tests, such as interim assessments that are in common use in many classrooms today.
For more, read ed.gov's article here.
