GSA Daily Staff Report

Published Sept. 7, 2010

South Carolina is part of two groups of states that are getting $330 million in federal grants over the next four years to develop a new generation of tests.

The tests will be aligned to the Common Core State Standards Initiative recently spearheaded by the nation’s governors and chief state school officers, and which have been adopted by South Carolina and 36 other states. More states are expected to adopt them by year’s end.

The assessments will assess students' knowledge of mathematics and English language arts from third grade through high school, according to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. They will be computer-based, and unlike multiple-choice exams, will measure higher-order skills that including students’ ability to read complex text, synthesize information and do research projects.

About $160 million is going to the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium with Washington State as the fiscal agent, while $170 million was awarded to the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers with Florida as the fiscal agent. A number of states have overlapping membership in the two consortia involving a total of 44 states.

SBAC, working on behalf of 31 states, will focus on computer adaptive technology that asks students tailored questions based on their previous answers. SBAC 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.

The PARCC coalition of 26 states will focus on testing students' ability to read complex text, complete research projects, excel at classroom speaking and listening assignments and work with digital media.

PARCC will 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 two groups are supposed to work in a friendly competition. Their proposals have many similarities but are not identical in approach or philosophy. Duncan said the new assessments are not pilot programs, but will be implemented in participating states by 2014-15.

“Both of these proposals seek to be proactive in tracking student progress,” said South Carolina Superintendent Jim Rex. “Our state will make a decision about consortia membership – to remain a member of one or neither of them – after our new governor and superintendent take office in January. If we opt out, we would continue to administer our state-developed tests based on the Common Core Standards.”

Duncan set aside $350 million from the billions that Congress voted last year for the Race to the Top grant competition to finance the testing initiative. The government has not yet said what it will do with the $20 million not awarded to either group of states.