Kansas Reclaims Control of Testing, Drops Common Core Assessments

[Valin]

The Foundry:

Brittany Corona

December 19, 2013

 

Last week, Kansas decided to drop the Common Corealigned Smarter Balanced tests in favor of having the University of Kansas craft the assessments that Kansas students will take beginning in the 20152016 school year. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports:

 

(Snip)

 

Common Core national standards were adopted by 45 states in 2009 after the federal government incentivized states using a combination of carrots and sticksincluding $4.35 billion in Race to the Top (RTTT) competitive grants and No Child Left Behind waivers. But many states, including Kansas, are beginning to have second thoughts.

 

The Huffington Post reports that 17 additional states are pushing back against Common Core:

 

In critically reconsidering their agreements to abide by [Common Core State Standards] and its related RTTT high-stakes assessment and data collection requirements, it seems that a number of [Common Core] states are attempting to do exactly thatreinforcing the right of states to listen to the concerns of their citizens and subsequently adjust their own education systems.

(Snip)