Education Week – Catherine Gewertz
“The drumbeat has been getting louder as PARCC and Smarter Balanced tests get closer: Many students are expected to fall short of proficiency marks on those new, presumably tougher exams. But those kinds of sobering results are showing up on other common-core tests, as well. The ACT’s Aspire, designed to reflect the common core, has produced its first round of statewide results. In nearly every grade and both subjects, more than half of Alabama’s students fall below the cut points that connote being on track for success in college…”(more)