“We have the (Common Core) standards, but the implementation and the testing are still concerns,” Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris told reporters Thursday. “A lot has been passed this year that deals with concerns we had about Common Core – not the standards, but curriculum, and data mining, and all those issues – and I think when the dust settles and people have a chance to look back and focus on some of these pretty voluminous bills, they’ll see that we addressed a lot of the concerns that the public had about ‘Common Core,’ quote unquote, in general.” (Photo: Daniel Potter/WPLN)
Lawmakers could be close to a deal on a new standardized test tied to the controversial Common Core educational standards.
A push to delay the test, known as the PARCC, set to start next school year, has been a flashpoint in the state legislature this spring.
The PARCC delay has been stalled in the Senate for the last month, right on the verge of passage. Now Majority Leader Mark Norris thinks there’s a consensus: continue Tennessee’s current standardized test, known as the TCAP, while shopping for an alternative over the next year:
“I think we all agree that there should be more opportunity to consider alternatives to PARCC, or at least to put PARCC out for bid. There shouldn’t be a rush to implementation on that, and I think that’s what the consensus will be.”
Governor Bill Haslam’s administration had previously opposed any delay.
But with session winding down next week, lawmakers trying to strike a blow against the Common Core have just a few days left in the session to push the bill through.
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