Georgia will decide soon whether to have students take a new standardized test tied to the controversial Common Core set of national school standards.
Gov. Nathan Deal and state school Superintendent John Barge have raised concerns about the cost of the test.
The state spends $25 million each year on tests, but the new test, which would replace the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test offered now in grades three through eight, could cost as much as $27 million.
Deal, Barge and state school board Chairwoman Barbara Hampton will decide whether Georgia will offer the test, which is being written by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, a 22-state consortium that includes Georgia.
“By the next time we gather, we have to make a decision,” Barge told board members during their meeting Friday.
The state board is scheduled to meet again Aug. 21, though Barge said a decision is likely to be made before that date.
Common Core has become a source of ire for some who view the standards as a federal takeover of public education. Others, however, see national standards as a step toward improving education in the U.S. by making sure students in Georgia can clear the same academic hurdles as those in Minnesota, Maryland or Maine.
A national assessment tied to those standards could determine how Georgia students are faring in comparison with students in other states.
Barge has said the new standards — embraced by Georgia and 44 other states — have value beyond the test to which they would lead. Embracing them already has led to offering more rigorous coursework that provides a clearer sense of whether students are ready for the workplace or to handle college-level work.
Some 63 percent of Georgia students who took the end-of-course tests given in coordinate algebra, a new course tied to Common Core, failed to meet the state standard.
Board members decried those results, but said they also have worries about the new PARCC test. Mary Sue Murray said she is unhappy that two national assessments are in the works, one from PARCC and another from an assessment consortium of states called Smarter Balanced. Mike Royal said he worries the PARCC test could limit the state’s ability to change its curriculum.
The PARCC test would cover math and English/language arts in grades three through 11. Georgia currently tests students in 11 subject areas as well as offering the CRCT.
Some state legislators have questioned whether Georgia tests too much. On the other hand, lawmakers have noted that, in the context of the billions the state spends each year on K-12 education, the cost of the PARCC assessment doesn’t appear too expensive.
Barge said the state has been working with others in the region to come up with an alternative to the PARCC test that could be used if Georgia decides against offering it to students.
“We are not forced into PARCC,” board member Larry Winter said. “We have options.”
Even as Georgia leaders near a decision on PARCC, the state is preparing to have the assessment field-tested.
Melissa Fincher, associate superintendent for assessment and accountability, said a representative sample of 100,000 Georgia students will take the PARCC test in the spring.
End-of-course tests count for 20 percent of a student’s grade, and in some grades and some subjects the CRCT determines whether a student moves on to the next grade, but a student’s performance on the PARCC assessment will have no bearing on their academic standing.
“We’re not looking at how the students perform,” Fincher said of the field-testing. “We’re looking at how the questions perform.”
Money for the field test won’t come from state coffers; PARCC is covering those costs with federal money.
Still, Barge said it would make sense to make a decision on PARCC sooner rather than later.
“If it’s not the direction we’re going to go, why spend that time having those students participate in a field test?” he asked.
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