National assessment update . . .

Yesterday, I blogged about the status of the Common Core and today I'll share an article by Catherine Gewertz and Andrew Ujifusa in Education Week that updates the status of the Common Core assessments scheduled for the spring of 2014-15.  Just a few years ago 45 states had signed on to one of the two national consortia supported with federal money.  Today that number is down to 26 plus the District of Columbia with the potential for further reductions.  Our state is pat of the Smarter Balanced and plans to use their assessments next year.

There have been many more states changing their minds about the assessments than the commitment to the standards themselves as other options have become available in this difficult political environment with push back on both right and left.  The vision of many being able to make state-to-state comparisons is also diminished by these changes.  It will be interesting to follow this changing landscape and how it may influence state commitments to the standards.