News Brief
Tough New 'Common Core' Tests Designed to Better Prepare Students
Daily Herald (IL) (10/31/12) Placek, Christopher; Sanchez, RobertIllinois education officials say they hope the adoption of the so-called Common Core standards will better prepare students for college and careers. From the 2014-2015 school year on, students across the state will take new tests to gauge how well they are grasping what they have been taught. The new tests will be administered twice a year by a 23-state cohort called the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). Officials say the new standards are tougher than the old ones, and thus the tests that measure the Common Core's effectiveness also will be more difficult, requiring students to prove how they reached an answer. State Superintendent of Education Christopher Koch said this would be a "sea change" for the state's elementary-school teachers, "because now, we're going to be assessing not only their knowledge level. We're no longer going to be looking at just a bubble multiple choice test. We're going to be expecting those students to demonstrate the application of knowledge. And that requires a different type of teaching."
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