Georgia leaders announced Monday that the state will not offer a new standardized test tied to a controversial set of national education standards called Common Core.
In rejecting the test, Gov. Nathan Deal and Superintendent John Barge cited its cost, which could have been as high as $27 million — slightly more than the state’s entire K-12 testing budget.
“Georgia can create an equally rigorous measurement without the high costs associated with this particular test,” Deal said in a joint statement with Barge.
The new test, more expensive than other tests in large part because it would require more writing and because it would take longer to administer and grade, was supposed to be field tested this spring by 100,000 Georgia students in grades 3 through 11 and officially offered to students in those grades during the 2014-2015 school year. The new test was to replace the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test currently offered in grades 3 through 8, and it would have replaced end-of-course tests in math and English/language arts.
Georgia’s decision not to offer the new test reflects growing unease with the test and with Common Core, which some see as a sort of national takeover of public education.
Barge and Deal both support Common Core, but they raised questions about the cost of the test and expressed concern that it could dictate the state’s curriculum.
“After talking with district superintendents, administrators, teachers, parents, lawmakers and members of many communities, I believe this is the best decision for Georgia’s students,” Barge said.
Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, said the group applauded the decision not to offer the test, saying it would “be problematic for the reasons Dr. Barge cited.”
Four other states — Alabama, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma — had already announced their withdrawal from the Partnership for Assessment and Readiness for College and Careers, the multi-state consortium creating the test. State legislators in Florida, which serves as the financial manager of the $186 million federal grant being used to come up with the test, have told that state’s education commissioner that they want the Sunshine State out of PARCC.
The goal, with Common Core and with the national test tied to those standards, was to make sure students in Georgia can clear the same academic hurdles as those in other states.
Georgia remains one of 45 states still committed to Common Core and has no plans to drop new classes and learning materials tied to those standards.
Education officials in Georgia are working on a test that would be created in this state. They are also working with their counterparts in other states to come up with what could serve as a regional test.
Those tests would be tied to Common Core, but they would not offer parents in Georgia a direct point of comparison showing how their students are faring against those in all other states.
“I’m disappointed that this decision has been made,” said Mitchell Chester, commissioner of elementary and secondary education in Massachusetts and chairman of PARCC’s governing board. “It will not derail the test.”
Chester predicted that some states that have withdrawn from PARCC might still offer the test.
Individual state assessments have often given parents a false sense of college and career readiness, Chester said.
“Many governor’s have understood that they were giving a false impression when they were reporting that 70 or 80 percent of students were on grade level,” he said. “That was based on state tests. You can’t make state-to-state comparisons. It’s not like knowing how to read or write is different in Georgia than it is in other states.”
Barge, however, said moving to Common Core will benefit Georgia students even if there is no national test. The new standards give students a more realistic sense of what they must know to succeed in college or the work world, he said.
The PARCC test is expected to cover math and English/language arts. Georgia currently tests students in 11 subject areas.
The state Department of Education said Georgia’s new test will be developed for students in grades 3 through high school, will be reviewed by teachers in this state and will take less time to administer than the PARCC test.
“We are grateful to Georgia educators who have worked hard to develop our standards and assessments,” Barge said. “We look forward to continuing to work with them to develop a new assessment system for our state.”
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