a*****g 发帖数: 19398 | 1 Iowa Announces Withdrawal From Smarter Balanced Testing Group
Iowa says it's withdrawing from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium,
citing the need to design a test that is "the right fit for Iowa."
In a letter to the consortium dated July 29, reported yesterday by the blog
Caffeinated Thoughts, Gov. Terry Branstad and schools chief Brad Buck noted
that the Iowa legislature created a task force in 2013 to explore the state'
s assessment options. They said that the task force would "give careful cons
ideration to all options."
But it appears that "all options" doesn't include Smarter Balanced, because
Branstad and Buck asked the consortium to make Iowa's "withdrawal ... effect
ive immediately" and to drop the state from its list of members.
Iowa's plan to use a test other than Smarter Balanced isn't a secret; We rep
orted to you a couple months ago that despite its membership in Smarter Bala
nced, Iowa had opted to stick with its own test for 2015. Education Week's m
ap of states' testing plans shows that while all but 15 belong to Smarter Ba
lanced or PARCC, only half of the states actually plan to use those tests in
2015.
Smarter Balanced's map of members still includes Iowa, but presumably that w
ill soon change, leaving SBAC with 21 state members.
Smarter Balanced, however, doesn't see the situation as quite that cut and d
ried. The consortium is aware that Iowa won't be using its test next year, b
ut would not confirm that it has withdrawn from the group.
"We do not have confirmation of their plans regarding Smarter Balanced membe
rship," spokeswoman Jacqueline King wrote in an email. She noted that states
that aren't using the test but would still "like to stay engaged" in the co
nsortium will have the option of being "affiliate members," she said. | M********s 发帖数: 24729 | |
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