Consortium Seeks Vendors to Bid for Assessments
One of the two consortia of states crafting common-core tests—the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)—released a request for proposals for the assessments that will be used to evaluate student performance, beginning in 2014-15.
While vendors have been chosen for test platforms and field tests, this latest request, or RFP, seeks ongoing development and implementation of multiple components of PARCC’s assessment system. Among the services sought:
- Item and test development for PARCC’s midyear, performance-based, and end-of-year assessments in English/language arts and mathematics, as well as administration of these components starting in 2014-15;
- Reporting of assessment results to states, districts, schools, educators, parents, and students; and
- Analysis of assessment results, and conducting the research studies to ensure that the PARCC assessments measure the college- and career-ready academic standards with fidelity and support inferences about student achievement with comprehensive evidence.
The vendor chosen through this RFP, which was released through the state of New Mexico on behalf of PARCC states, will support those states through the first operational year of the assessments in 2014-15 and for several years beyond. The RFP may be accessed here. Proposals are due Dec. 11.
In October, PARCC announced that it was seeking vendors to develop assessments of students’ speaking and listening skills, as part of a contract worth up to $1.5 million. In this case, bidders are being asked to provide pricing for the various components of the RFP, including cost options.
The vendor selected through this most recent RFP will also work with groups of PARCC state leaders, educators, and external experts to determine the cutoff scores to establish five PARCC performance levels for each grade-level assessment.
Sure, choose a vendor to create the assessments … or have teachers write tests based on the curriculum their teaching. One is steeped in political controversy and will spark a national revolt, including but not limited to more opting out of tests; the other just makes sense.
Hmm. Yeah, let’s go with the national controversy.
thespecialeducator, It has been shown over and again that teachers write poor tests, and during the many years in which they were left alone and enjoyed near complete autonomy in the absence of any actual curriculum or standards except what they chose to do, they did not pick up the skill of creating useful assessments. Things have changed recently with the emphasis on formative assessment practice, but the conversation was forced by high-quality assessment practice, not from the inside by teachers.