Preparing for PARCC and Smarter Balanced Assessments

With new standards come new assessments. If you are an educator in a Common Core state, you are likely familiar with the buzz about radical changes to standardized testing as you have known it. Two assessment consortia are leading the development efforts to create a common set of K-12 assessments aligned to the Common Core: The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) and Smarter Balanced. Currently, 45 states and the District of Columbia have joined one or both consortia. Both are working to develop performance-based formative assessments as well as summative measures for accountability purposes. In perhaps the greatest shift in standardized testing history, the assessments will be administered via computer.

Both consortia have released sample questions (available at their respective websites) and plan to achieve full implementation for the 2014-2015 school year. The assessments are being called “next generation assessments” due to their unique design that extends beyond traditional multiple-choice and short-answer questions. Instead, students will be asked to demonstrate their learning through interdisciplinary real-world tasks. Educators across the country are beginning to look ahead at these assessments to find out what they can do now to prepare their students. Below you will find the most current informative resources to help you gear up for what is soon to be the “New Normal” in standardized testing.