NEWS

Ohio kills PARCC, but Common Core survives

Benjamin Lanka and Hannah Sparling

Ohio students will no longer take the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exam after GOP lawmakers dumped the test in the state budget.

Richard Ross, superintendent of public instruction, on Wednesday said the state will use the American Institutes for Research to develop the math and English tests for the next school year. The company already developed the state's social studies and science tests.

Ross said the state will work with the company to develop tests that are appropriate for Ohio schools.

"We must not end our pursuit of meaningful high quality assessment," he said.

The state paid Pearson, the company administering PARCC assessments, $26.3 million to roll out the math and English tests last school year. The Ohio Department of Education estimated that educators spent more than 50,000 hours developing the tests.

The state's existing contract with AIR said it would cost $26.6 million in year one to administer the math and English tests. The state paid the company $23.1 million for administering tests during the last school year.

The new tests will be shorter than PARCC tests and all will be given in the spring. The PARCC tests drew heavy criticism this past school year with teachers, students and parents railing against the assessments for technical glitches, taking too much time and being too difficult.

House Republicans banned the PARCC exams and asked the Ohio Department of Education to select another test in line with the new education requirements, Common Core. If the state doesn't test students, it risks losing $750 million in federal money.

State education officials said they are confident they can develop new Common Core-based tests in time to use them in the spring, but Ross stressed they won't simply be pulled off a shelf. He said the state will not be joining another multistate testing consortium.

"It will be Ohio tests for Ohio students," he said.

Damon Asbury, with the Ohio School Boards Association, said his group was not surprised by the removal of PARCC tests because their implementation created too many issues to overcome. He cautioned that the new tests should could present their own problems.

"Whatever direction is taken will require clear and direct communication with parents, students, teachers and the general public - a recommendation that should have accompanied the PARCC rollout," he said in an email.

Ohioans Against Common Core founder Heidi Huber said the change is a positive move, if for no other reason that it's a "final blow" to PARCC and Pearson. But she admitted it won't make much difference because it will be replaced by another test to measure the same Common Core standards.

Huber thinks legislators took a symbolic step in an attempt to placate people such as herself. PARCC became a buzzword, a "poison name," she said, and "this is response to the outcry."

"We have to be continuously aware that this is just a bait and switch," she said.

Lawmakers initially stripped money for testing altogether from the budget, but added back $20 million per year last week.

Gov. John Kasich did not veto the ban on using PARCC, so it became part of the two-year state budget signed Tuesday.

Last school year was the first time Ohio schools administered the PARCC assessments. Test officials agreed to shorten the tests and consolidate testing sessions after complaints from parents and teachers, but that wasn't enough to satisfy lawmakers' concerns.

Ross said he hoped to inform school districts about the schedule for the new tests before most schools begin in August.

Gannett Ohio's Jessie Balmert contributed to this report.