The Underground Testing Consortia

1493240935_2790It’s almost like this is mostly politics…

“Everyone knows” that interstate testing consortia are a hopeless mess. Except, what if I told you there were a bunch operating without a lot of fanfare? It’s true! Bonnie O’Keefe and I look at that in The 74.

It’s one of those things “everyone knows”: Interstate testing consortia are doomed. Certainly, it’s been a rough few years for interstate testing groups. After 45 states initially signed up for either PARCC or Smarter Balanced assessments, aligned with the Common Core State Standards in math and reading, barely 20 states remain in those two high-profile consortia today.

Meanwhile, political battles over the tests have raged in state legislatures and boards of education, and testing has made headlines all over the country. Local control wins again, and anyone who wants a large-scale comparable and high-quality assessment should probably find another line of work.

But what if we told you there were other test consortia, flying under the radar of Common Core backlash, with as many or more states participating — including states that backed out of PARCC and Smarter Balanced?

Want to know more? You can read the entire thing right here.

3 Replies to “The Underground Testing Consortia”

  1. Including the number of states using WIDA ACCESS is incredibly misleading because it is not weighted by enrollment of ELLs. The states with the 4 largest enrollments of ELLs- California, Texas, Florida, and New York- are not a part of the WIDA consortium

  2. I know lots of states have looked for opportunities to share content beyond official consortia as well – is that starting to take place on a broader scale?

  3. Interesting. As a California Educator we are still all innok Smarter Balanced. I wonder how much we pay to use the SBAC system. I suppose I should Google it to find out. Having been a testing administrator every year from the pilot until now it’s been interesting seeing the evolution of the system.

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