21st Century Assessments on the Horizon

The United States Department of Education announced yesterday that two state coalitions – comprising 44 states and the District of Columbia – will receive upwards of $330 million through the Race to the Top Assessment  Program to design and implement assessment systems aligned to the Common Core Standards.

These two groups, Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, each submitted proposals that outline the development and implementation of English/Language Arts and Mathematics assessments that will accurately measure student progress towards college and/or career readiness.    

Each consortium is divided into governing and member states.  Governing states have direct control over policy and organizational direction in exchange for joining only one consortium.  Member states, however, can join multiple consortiums but withhold certain powers granted to governing states.  Delaware is a member state in both consortia. 

A basic summary of PARCC and SMARTER can be found at these links.