Dive Brief:

• Under the guidance of Gov. Phil Bryant, Mississippi has dropped the state's contract with Common Core-aligned Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers assessment consortium, leaving teachers unsure what exam they should be aligning their teaching to.  
• The situation is being compared to Louisiana, where Gov. Bobby Jindal famously — and somewhat unsuccessfully — pushed back against the Common Core by freezing the state's contract with PARCC.
• Also similar to Louisiana is the divide Common Core created among officials, as Bryant has openly spoken out against the Common Core, while many on the state's board of education and State Superintendent Carey Wright have spoken out about why the state needs the standards.  

Dive Insight:

Somewhat different from Louisiana is the way Mississippi ended up in its contract with PARCC. It originally awarded — there were no competitors — a four-year contract to Pearson. The contract was deemed invalid since the bid wasn't competitive, so Mississippi quickly signed a one-year contract with PARCC. What Bryant says he is objecting to is that contract, though from an outsider's perspective, and given previous disputes in states like Louisiana, it looks like a way to stall and bungle Common Core implementation.