Prototype Common Core Test Questions Appear

The 23-state consortium that is generating the tests Arkansas students will take under the Common Core State Standards today released its first prototypes for future test questions.

Arkansas, along with 44 other states and three territories, is adopting the Common Core, under which students across state lines will learn roughly the same lessons in English language arts/literacy and mathematics.

They are meant to create a more uniform curriculum for a mobile society and also are meant to cover less subjects more thoroughly than the current standards. In many cases, students are learning material at earlier grades than before.

The standards were initiated by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers in 2009. Arkansas adopted the standards July 12, 2010. Texas, Alaska, Nebraska, Minnesota and Virginia are the five states that have said, “No, thanks.”

Arkansas is adopting a phased in approach. The standards were adopted in gr

ades K-2 last school year and are being adopted in grades 3-8 this year. Grades 9-12 will incorporate them in 2013-14.

The prototypes give educators and the public a first look at what future tests will look like when the first tests are administered in 2014-15. The tests will take the place of the state’s current benchmark exams and will be used by the state Department of Education to measure school performance. Ultimately, a school whose students perform poorly on the assessments can end up in academic distress and eventually face penalties as severe as annexation or consolidation with another district.

Two consortiums, PARCC and the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, are each designing tests. PARCC involves 23 states and the Virgin Islands.

While the Common Core State Standards have been developed at the state level, they have received federal support. For example, PARCC was given a $186 million Race to the Top grant through the U.S. Department of Education.