So long, CRCT. Hello, GMAP.
The state Board of Education voted Thursday to have a company develop a standardized test to replace the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test, which has been given to Georgia students for the past 14 years.
The new test, which will be called the Georgia Measures of Achievement and Progress, will be offered at the end of the upcoming school year.
While the name of the new test is known, other key facts – which company will develop the test and how much it will cost Georgia taxpayers – remain unknown. State procurement rules forbid the state Department of Education from disclosing the company or the costs until the contract is reviewed by the Georgia Department of Administrative Services.
The CRCT cost $11 million to administer last year, and end-of-course tests cost just over $7 million. Those prices were negotiated in 2006, when the state hired CTB/McGraw-Hill to develop its standardized tests.
The new test is expected to cost more than the CRCT because the cost of testing, like nearly everything else, has risen since 2006. Costs will also rise because some of the testing will be open-ended and must be graded by people instead of by a machine, which grades the multiple-choice CRCT now.
Georgia Superintendent John Barge said the state needs a new test.
“We need a new assessment program because we have to raise expectations for our students,” he said. “The new test will be much more rigorous because it will have some open-ended questions where students have to explain answers and demonstrate their writing abilities. There will also be an increase in the number of questions that students have to answer correctly in order to pass the test.”
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