The warning last week, from a Wyoming state education official, has a familiar ring.
When students are tested against the new Common Core standards, scores will drop in the short run.
“It doesn’t mean our kids know any less than they did last year,” state assessment director Deb Lindsey said, according to the Associated Press. “Nor does it mean that our schools and our teachers are doing a poorer job of educating the children that they serve.”
In Idaho, State Superintendent Tom Luna has offered the same prediction — in almost as many words — as a way of bracing Idahoans for a Common Core sticker shock.
The new Common Core-based test, now known as ISATs by Smarter Balanced, will count for the first time next spring. Students and schools field-tested the lengthy online exam earlier this year.
