I popped over to the California Department of Education
website because I was curious about an issue with the Alternative Assessments
for California. California rolled out
its participation in adopting the Common Core Standards much more
deliberatively than most states. Many
states that implemented the standards a few years back are now starting to rethink
their participation. California just
field-tested the Common Core Assessment, called CASPP, for the last two
years. Next year will be the first year
that the assessment will actually “count.”
On the other hand, students with the most significant
disabilities take an alternate achievement test, which is called CAPA. Since the CAPA test is based on the old
California Standards, it will no longer be used. California had planned on participating in
year two of a state consortium field test, but
because of a missed deadline, that won’t be happening. Therefore, teachers of students with the most
significant disabilities are left without an applicable set of standards to
teach to. California will try to cobble
together their alternate assessment by borrowing from other states’current
tests. Knowing how fast government can
work, it should not be a problem to have the test in place by May when the
testing frenzy starts. I, for one, hope
there are many questions about unicorns and fairies, since that is my theme for
this year since I don’t have a standard curriculum to follow (just kidding.)
Anywho, I came across this PowerPoint
of talking points in support of Common Core, just in case you happen across any
naysayers or a probing reporter. We
wouldn’t want any negative press raining on our Common Core parade, would we?
No comments:
Post a Comment