Following seven other Common Core states, Colorado should withdraw from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) “until the state has a chance to publicly review, evaluate, and critique Common Core standards and PARCC,” argues Teacher’s View blogger Michael Mazenko in the Denver Post. If Colorado needs standardized testing and decides its own test isn’t good enough, the state should use ACT’s Aspire, he writes.
PARCC is an unproven standardized test created by a private consortium that has provided very little information or transparency on what their tests will look like.
. . . ACT is a known entity with a proven track record, and ACT’s tests actually mean something to parents, students and, perhaps most important, colleges.
ACT testing is cheaper at $20 per student than PARCC at $30, writes Mazenko.
Colorado requires high school students to take the ACT and uses the scores to rate high schools on college preparation. Colleges use ACT for admissions. No college plans to rely on PARCC scores.
Common Core conflict “spiked” yesterday at the state Capitol, reports the Denver Post. “Moms” protested the standards. Sen. Vicki Marble promoted her “Colorado Moms’ Bill” to delay new tests for a year pending a review of the standards. Common Core “was pushed onto Colorado with too little debate and no parental input,” said Marble.
Meanwhile, Common Core backers sponsored a panel discussion to persuade legislators to move forward.
Common Core testing has created chaos nationwide, reports the Washington Post. In California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and elsewhere, there are second thoughts.