North Carolina Standardized Testing in Question Due to Common Core Backlash?

 

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The Raleigh News & Observer published a story yesterday entitled “Common Core backlash casts shadow on future testing in NC.”  Sounds dramatic doesn’t it?

 

Basically the North Carolina Legislature threw a monkey wrench in the North Carolina State Board of Education’s plans by not funding the Smarter Balanced Assessments.  Those pesky legislators!

An excerpt:

North Carolina has been part of a group of states guiding the creation of a national test called SMARTER Balanced, which is tied to Common Core standards for reading and math. The thought was that students statewide would begin taking the national exams next year.

The Common Core State Standards establish a clear and consistent map for what students should learn from kindergarten through high school to prepare them better for college and careers. North Carolina is one of 45 states to adopt the standards.

But a Common Core backlash, driven by critics who question the state’s decision to hand over control of its education standards to national groups, has complicated the decision on whether to adopt the national tests.

The legislature in its budget prohibited the Board of Education from spending any money on new tests linked to the standards, including SMARTER Balanced, unless the legislature passes a law allowing it.

A legislative committee examining Common Core wants to consider the fiscal and legal consequences of the state dropping out of the group working on the test.

The state board was scheduled to vote next week on what tests to use next year, but Chairman Bill Cobey said Thursday that the board isn’t ready to do so. Instead, the board is going to get more information on options and what other states are doing.

“It’s a very complicated thing because it has budgetary implications,” he said. Ultimately, the legislature controls what that board will do, Cobey said.

Read the rest.

First I have to point out the obvious bias in the article (or laziness if the reporter is just being fed talking points) when it says, “The Common Core State Standards establish and clear and consistent map…”  Clear?  Please, a lack of clarity is one of our primary problems with the content of the Common Core State Standards.

 

Second, this is a model for states to follow who are still a part of PARCC or Smarter Balanced.  Hard to implement what isn’t funded.