Amended Common Core Test Bill Passes Senate Ed

A bill that would have ended Arkansas’ participation in a multi-state assessment associated with the Common Core failed to get a second in the Senate Education Committee Wednesday and then passed later with an amendment that would simply limit Arkansas’ participation to one year.

In its original form, House Bill 1241 would have ended Arkansas’ association with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) by June 30. The consortium of nine states plus the District of Columbia – originally 24 states until the others pulled out – is designed to compare Arkansas students to those in other states based on the Common Core State Standards. This is the first year that Arkansas students have taken the test after a pilot project last year.

The sponsor, Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, originally said he did not plan to bring the bill back this session, explaining to reporters after his bill failed, “I’m disappointed. I don’t think that it would do any good to run it back through the Senate committee again. I mean, when you don’t get a second on a motion, that’s a pretty strong signal that you don’t have five votes, which you need.”

But he later returned to the committee room and agreed to an amendment proposed before the meeting by Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, that prohibits more than a year-long contract with the testing agency. The amendment also requires the State Board of Education to take into account recommendations by the Governor’s Council on Common Core Review, an advisory group appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson and chaired by Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin. Lowery had decided to run the bill without the amendment even though he knew it lacked support going into the meeting.

Hendren said he “wanted to send a message to Pearson,” the testing company that produced the PARCC exam, about problems with the test. He said he was disappointed that the testing company did not send a representative to the committee meeting to answer questions. He said he wanted to encourage the Arkansas State Board of Education to address issues in its next contract, such as the need for a performance clause.

“I think everybody agreed that we’re getting messages from our people back there that there’s some problems with PARCC, but I think all of us also agreed that repealing it 90 days before the end of the contract, and we don’t have a plan to follow on, was probably not the most prudent path forward,” Hendren said.

The bill without the amendment passed the House of Representatives 86-1 March 6, but after Sen. Blake Johnson, R-Corning, moved that it be adopted in committee Wednesday, no one offered a second.

Lowery and other witnesses said the test is unproven, has been technically glitchy, and would make too much personal student data available to researchers, including those associated with Google and Microsoft. They said the test’s online application placed at a disadvantage lower income students with limited keyboard skills. Lowery said other tests would be effective substitutes and that the Governor’s Council on Common Core Review should have a clean slate so it could consider testing alternatives.

Opponents of the bill said that the test is effectively aligned with the Common Core, that Arkansas played a significant role in the test’s development, and that it would be difficult to change course after only one year. They said problems this year were the natural result of a new testing process and that the process would go more smoothly and test results would be known more quickly next year. Dr. Debbie Jones, Arkansas Department of Education assistant commissioner for learning services, said students’ personally identifiable information would not become publicly available.