The Conference Committee Report on HB 1549/SB 1835 — legislation that would delay Common Core implementation — is out.
While the report does NOT recommend a delay in implementation per se, it does set out requirements for legislative notification prior to adoption of Common Core standards in science and social studies. Which may ultimately mean those standards are not adopted.
Perhaps most interesting is the section related to PARCC — the Pearson test associated with Common Core.
The Conference Committee Report contains language that would DELAY PARCC tests for one year — so, they wouldn’t start in 2015 as planned. It goes further by requiring that the Department of Education accept bids for a test of Tennessee’s standards, including the Common Core in English/Language Arts and Math.
It’s possible, of course, that PARCC could still be the chosen option in Tennessee. Then again, the state could go the way of Kentucky and Florida and drop out of PARCC altogether and contract for a different test.
Unless the General Assembly wants to stay in session for a few more days, it seems likely that this report will be adopted as the compromise position — allowing Tennessee to proceed with the Common Core as currently adopted and taking a step back to assess which test best meets the state’s needs.
Read the full Conference Committee Report.
Pingback: Tennessee Education Report | Replacing TCAP
Pingback: Tennessee Education Report | Pearson: We’re Ready to Grade