Dive Brief:
- A vast restructuring of the PARCC testing system was announced after an Education Commission of the States analysis showed only six states and the District of Columbia will use the consortium's exams for the current academic year, Education Week reports.
- The number of states using PARCC continues to plummet, down from 11 last year.
- New Mexico Education Secretary Hanna Skandera said that the changes were a direct result of states requesting more flexibility.
Dive Insight:
Restructuring will create a number of options designed to both placate state requests for options as well as possibly convince new states to sign up. A tiered system will enable the use of Pearson as test admin, or states can add their own test questions, or choose their own vendor for administration. “They could also choose to buy test questions from a “free-standing” item bank,” Education Week reports, or “buy 'blocks' of test items, giving them the ability to design their own tests with PARCC questions.”
Prices have not been unveiled for the new components.
Originally, PARCC had a total of 24 members. Last year, it was down to 11, with the membership nearly halved yet again for the current academic year. Massachusetts is the latest state to consider scrapping PARCC, and the state Education Commissioner is now encouraging a collaborative hybrid MCAS-PARCC model that might benefit from PARCC’s latest restructuring.