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Learn More About the Assessment Consortia

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) 
PARCC is a consortium of 23 states plus the U.S. Virgin Islands working together to develop a common set of K-12 assessments in English and math anchored in what it takes to be ready for college and careers. These new K-12 assessments will build a pathway to college and career readiness by the end of high school, mark students' progress toward this goal from 3rd grade up, and provide teachers with timely information to inform instruction and provide student support. The PARCC assessments will be ready for states to administer during the 2014-15 school year.

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia (Smarter Balanced)
 Smarter Balanced is a state-led consortium working to develop next-generation assessments that accurately measure student progress toward college- and career-readiness. Smarter Balanced is developing an assessment system aligned to the CCSS by the 2014-15 school year. The states that are a member of the Smarter Balanced consortium are Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. 

National Center and State Collaborative Partnership (NCSC)
NCSC is building a comprehensive assessment system that includes project-developed products and processes to support educators as they plan for and provide appropriate instruction that addresses common standards. These supports will help Individualized Education Program teams accurately identify the learner characteristics of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and make appropriate decisions about how each student participates in the overall system of assessments. The 19 state partners are: Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Pacific Assessment Consortium (PAC-6), Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming. 

Dynamic Learning Maps Alternate Assessment Consortia (DLM)
DLM s a group of 13 states dedicated to the development of an alternative assessment system. The DLM project is guided by the core belief that all students should have access to challenging grade-level content. The new DLM alternate assessment system will let students with significant cognitive disabilities show what they know in ways that traditional multiple-choice tests cannot.  The consortium includes the states of Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Assessment Services Supporting English Language Learners Through Technology Systems Consortium (ASSETS)
 The ASSETS project was awarded an Enhanced Assessment Grant in fall 2011 for nearly $10.5 million over 4 years to build a comprehensive and balanced technology-based assessment system for English language learners. The assessment system will be anchored in WIDA's English Language Proficiency Standards that are aligned with the CCSS, will be informed by rigorous ongoing research, and supported by comprehensive professional development and outreach. WIDA will maintain its consortium approach to decision-making about the design and direction of the project and will involve the expertise of nationally renowned partners.

ELPA21 Consortium
The purpose of the ELPA21 consortium is to enhance the quality of assessments used by states for measuring the development of student's English language proficiency (ELP).  The consortium will develop a system of valid and reliable ELP assessment instruments that align in deep and meaningful ways with college- and career-readiness standards in English language arts, mathematics and science. The English Language Proficiency Development (ELPD) Framework will be used to guide the development of ELP standards that reflect the academic vocabulary and English language skills needed to be successful in the content area classes. These ELP standards will be adopted by all member states and will be measured by the ELPA21 assessments. 

Under this grant, the consortium will develop two assessments to be used at each of six grade bands: (1) a diagnostic/screener test to provide information for English learner identification and placement, and (2) an annual summative assessment for monitoring of student progress, accountability, program exit, and instructional improvement.  All Consortium states will use these assessments and agreed-upon criteria for entry, placement and exit from English language learner programs. Through extended collaboration, ELPA21 will also develop supporting professional development resources, recommendations on formative assessment practices, a secure item bank from which locally defined interim benchmark assessments can be constructed, and a cooperative data reporting system.  The system as a whole is intended to establish a continuous feedback loop to teachers, schools and districts to support ongoing improvements in ELP instruction, teacher professional development, and student learning, K-12.