News Brief

02/20/13

Florida Contemplates 'Backup' Tests for Common Core

Education Week (02/20/13) Gewertz, CatherineFlorida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett says the state needs a contingency plan in case the Common Core assessments being developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) are not ready on schedule. Bennett says the costs of testing, creating a common scoring system and common cut score, and gauging whether schools have the technology to implement the computer-based tests could cause delays, and he will have an alternate statewide testing system ready for the 2014-15 school year just in case the PARCC tests or Florida schools are not ready. "No one wants this to succeed more than I do, and no one believes it ultimately will succeed more than I do," he says. "But I would be remiss in my duties as state commissioner ... if I don't have a Plan B for that." In regards to Florida and the Common Core standards, Bennett says, "There is a great deal of evidence that we have done a lot to roll out an implementation plan for the standards. ... You just want to make sure that what we say we are delivering is getting delivered to the local districts."

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