Common Core test anxiety - Stephanie Simon and Caitlin Emma. A new front has opened in the Common Core wars — over testing contracts.
The high-stakes battle is undermining one of the Obama administration’s most prized initiatives: its vision, backed by more than $370 million in federal funds, of testing students across the country on a common set of exams in math, reading and writing. Continue Reading The administration wants children in Mississippi to be measured against the same bar as children in Massachusetts or Michigan. But now a testing revolt is spreading across the country, adding to a slew of troubles for the Common Core initiative, which began as a bipartisan effort but has come under fire from parents and teachers across the political spectrum. (Also on POLITICO: Jindal lawyer backs Common Core cut) Four years ago, about 40 states expressed interest in using shared tests. More defections may loom in a half-dozen states, among them Louisiana, Missouri and perhaps New Jersey.
(Sign up for POLITICO’s Morning Education tip sheet) Common Core gets AWFUL review in new study. Bad news for supporters of national education curriculum: States with education standards most closely aligned to Common Core fared worse on math tests than states with their own standards, according to a new study.
The study, conducted by the Brookings Institution, compared standardized test scores for all 50 states over the last five years. It found that states using education standards that are most dissimilar to Common Core tended to score the highest on math. Though the difference is small, it nevertheless undermines the claims of Common Core’s high profile backers, which include President Obama’s Department of Education, several moderate Republican governors, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “Supporters of Common Core argue that strong, effective standards will sweep away such skepticism by producing lasting, significant gains in student learning,” wrote the study’s authors. Common Core is an increasingly divisive issue. U.S. Court Orders Halt on Pearson Ed Common Core Test Contract. Sean Cavanagh at Education Week reported that the ruling, issued Tuesday by Judge Sarah M.
Singleton of the Santa Fe First Judicial District, raises concerns about how the services described in the contract, which include test delivery and item development, are to be implemented should the protest by American Institutes for Research (AIR) and other legal actions not be resolved in favor of New Mexico state officials, who oversaw the bidding for states in the PARCC test consortium. Overruling the objections of New Mexico officials, the judge decided that AIR’s protest was submitted in an appropriate and timely manner. She also said that the request for proposals brought forward by New Mexico officials was “ambiguous” regarding where protests against the bidding process were to be submitted.
That statement, however, was challenged when AIR filed its protest that alleged an unfair and biased bidding process on the PARCC contract. Common Core survives Louisiana Legislature, fate rests with Bobby Jindal. Common Core will continue in Louisiana next year.
The only remaining question is whether or not the standardized test tied to the controversial academic standards survives. That decision now rests solely with Gov. Bobby Jindal after the Louisiana Legislature in a series of votes opted not to weaken or derail the educational benchmarks. With the legislative session ending Monday, lawmakers say there are no plans to force another vote on Common Core, or to try and gut the associated PARCC standardized test.
In fact, legislators have been moving in the opposite direction over the past few days, throwing their support behind the academic standards. The Louisiana Senate backed a bill Wednesday (May 28) seen largely as a Common Core endorsement. Jindal has repeatedly expressed reservations about the bill, meaning he could veto it. The governor, however, is still urging legislators to delay or block the use of PARCC. Jindal could, however, make the state purchase of the test difficult. The Common Core Conundrum - Erick Erickson. Common Core State Standards could be the under-the-radar issue of the 2014 campaign.
Business leaders and politicians had their hearts in the right place. We are a highly mobile society. People are likely to move more than once for jobs. Often they move their whole families to new school districts. Sometimes families move across the country. Children, particularly children whose parents are in the military, are prone to be disadvantaged in education if they move around. Right now, the standards are just for math and English. Alternatives to Common Core raise concerns in Oklahoma - Tulsa World: Education.
If Oklahoma lawmakers approve a measure to repeal Common Core academic standards in the state, their replacements are likely to look similar, supporters of Common Core say.
In a letter to Gov. Mary Fallin on May 1, a leader of a conservative think tank that supports widespread implementation of the Common Core standards warned that reverting to Oklahoma's previous English and math standards would be a "significant mistake. " An online service is needed to view this article in its entirety. You need an online service to view this article in its entirety.
Need an account? "I think in Indiana you're seeing a situation where the end product will look very similar to Common Core," said Michael Brickman, national policy director at the Thomas B. Is Common Core Developmentally Appropriate?