Kentucky Drops PARCC

This from Curriculum Matters:

Kentucky has pulled out of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, better known as PARCC.

Gov. Steven L. Beshear, Education Commissioner Terry Holliday and State Board President Roger L. Marcum sent a letter by email yesterday to Mitchell D. Chester, the chairman of PARCC's governing board.

In the letter, they said that Kentucky would likely be issuing a request for proposals for new tests, but that PARCC was welcome to bid along with other vendors in that process.

None of this is really a surprise, of course; We've been reporting to you for some time that Kentucky has been on the fence about the PARCC tests.

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Back in July Commissioner Holliday explained it this way:

In Kentucky, Commissioner Terry Holliday is considering many testing options, although Kentucky remains a member of PARCC and might be able to save money using the group’s tests. The state is already giving tests designed for the common standards, as well as ACT’s suite of tests in middle and high school.

Mr. Holliday said his state could stick with that arrangement, but it plans to issue a request-for-proposals in the fall to see what other vendors might offer for grades 3-8 and high school. He would consider proposals that emerge from that process, along with ACT’s new Aspire system, which is aiming for a $20 per-student price, as well as using Smarter Balanced or PARCC’s tests. He is also considering expanding the state’s own test-item banks with items from the two consortia’s item banks, he said.

“We’re going to treat PARCC and Smarter Balanced like any other vendor,” Mr. Holliday said.