New news out of Mississippi. They will be the latest state to pull out of the fledgling Common Core-aligned assessment consortium PARCC.
The Clarion Ledger reports:
The education board voted earlier that morning to withdraw from the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers consortium amid anti-Common Core and anti-PARCC sentiments by some of the state’s top political leaders.
Both Gov. Phil Bryant and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves have called for a repeal of Common Core and the Common Core-aligned assessments developed by PARCC and given to students at the end of the school year.
Two bills introduced this week by Speaker of the House Philip Gunn also propose to do away with PARCC and Common Core.
State Superintendent of Education Carey Wright serves on the PARCC board, along with the education leaders of other member states. It’s unclear if she will resign from that position due to the move.
Education leaders said in the press release they will issue a request for proposals inviting other entities to provide assessments starting in the 2015-2016 school year.
This is a good sign out of Mississippi. They also need to move toward a repeal of the Common Core or else finding another company to put together another Common Core-aligned test won’t mean that much. Especially if it is a vendor with ties to PARCC or Smarter Balanced. With another state gone PARCC’s days have got to be numbered.
wrongheifer says
YES!
Debbie says
NOT SO FAST ….. Mississippi needs to make sure this isn’t a rebranding/ renaming of Common Core .. like in Indiana or Oklahoma. Like the last paragraph said … no more aligning with Common Core, PARCC, SMARTER BALANCED …… No Federal, or private interference in the State of Mississippi’s free public schools! This needs to be a full and total EOEAL of Common Core. Only elected Boards, teachers and the parents should have any input on curriculum or teaching methods with lots of testimony and research from qualified Early Childhood Learning
experts. There should be a stringent vetting of any materials for any bias, political, philosophical, and others. Put the math back in the High Schools so it’s available to those that wish to take it. Mississippi parents call for local free public schools with locally elected accountable representatives. Don’t mess with Mississippi Moms!!
Shane Vander Hart says
Absolutely, that’s a caveat we can add to any legislation we right about. I wanted to report on what was happening in Mississippi. Since I haven’t seen any bills yet I can’t really offer my opinion.