For those of us focused on standards-based education reform, this past year has brought a remarkable amount of positive change. Over thirty-five states and D.C. have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and more are planning to do so in the months ahead. Because the K-12 CCSS are anchored in college and career readiness, this means that all schools in adopting states will be expected to help all students meet expectations that were previously only for high performers or those who were deemed "college bound." This is a real shot in the arm toward the goal of making all high school graduates college- and career-ready.

Adoption of the standards is, of course, only the first step. States will need to invest energy and resources to fully implement the standards so that the promise of the standards reaches every student, in every classroom. So far, most states that have adopted the CCSS understand this and are organizing themselves to take on the challenge. There will be many partners prepared to help them along the way, Achieve included.

Part of fully implementing the CCSS requires having new assessments designed to measure the new standards. That effort received a huge boost a few weeks ago when Secretary Duncan announced the winners of the Race to the Top Assessment Competition [1]. The Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium were each awarded sizeable grants to develop multi-state, next generation assessment systems grounded in the mathematics and English language arts common standards. Like the standards, these assessments will be developed by the state-led consortia and will enable cross-state comparisons.

Achieve is honored to be helping to coordinate the work of the PARCC consortium. The PARCC states have come up with a forward thinking design that moves state assessment systems ahead. Some key features of the PARCC proposal [2] include:

• K-12 assessments anchored in college and career readiness, with higher education helping to establish the college-ready measures that will anchor the system;
• Performance measures that move away from reliance on multiple choice questions and tap students critical thinking, reasoning, writing and problem solving skills;
• Through-course assessments that measure student performance at key points during the school year rather than waiting for one big test at the end; and
• Computer-based assessments to take maximum advantage of advances in technology to measure higher standards, to reduce costs and to speed up the turnaround time for getting results back to teachers in classrooms.

All of these elements are meant to provide teachers, parents and administrators with better and timelier information to adjust instruction and ensure students are on track to meeting the standards.

There is a sense among the state leaders in both consortia that they are at a critical moment in time, faced with a once in a generation opportunity to design together something that none of them has the resources, expertise or political support to do alone. Their excitement and commitment is palpable, and so are the challenges to getting it right. As states approach this opportunity, they will need to work hard to achieve consensus on key design, policy and cost issues. They will need to push the assessment field to innovate and create higher quality products. And they will need to engage all stakeholders, particularly educators, in the work of building the new system, so that they and their students become its greatest beneficiaries...and advocates.

Download the PARCC press release in PDF format [3].

Read the U.S. Department of Education's announcement [4].