Dive Brief:
- A new survey by Education Week finds an increasing number of states forging their own path on Common Core testing.
- While the Common Core was initially created so the nation could easily gauge student achievement across state lines, shifts in testing plans are making this more difficult.
- Of the 45 states and the District of Columbia that adopted the standards, only 27 still plan to use one of the two federally approved testing consortiums (PARCC or Smarter Balance) for assessments. The rest of the states remain undecided or are going with a different testing company.
Dive Insight:
Education Week blames this fragmentation on the high costs of the PARCC and Smarter Balance tests, pushback over the fact that federal money was used to develop the two consortium's assessments, and the general waffling of many states over whether or not the Common Core is right for them.
