Ohio became the latest state to pull out of the PARCC Common Core testing consortium after months of angry complaints about the new online tests having too many technology glitches and of eating up far too much learning time for students.
In signing the state’s two-year budget bill Tuesday night, Gov. John Kasich agreed with leaders of the Ohio House and Senate that PARCC’s math and English exams cannot continue in Ohio.
The compromise bill the two houses agreed upon late last week specifically bans the state from spending any money on tests from the 12-state consortium – now down to 11 after tonight – and calls for the Ohio Department of Education to immediately find a new provider of tests.
Ohio spent $26 million for PARCC to provide math and English exams, both online and on paper, this past school year, according to ODE spokesman John Charlton.
Though federal grants paid most of the costs of developing PARCC’s exams over the last few years, Charlton said, ODE staff and other educators spent hours of time working on them as well.
State Sen. Peggy Lehner, who created and ran a committee this spring to study testing issues, said she would have been willing to give PARCC a second year to improve on its first-year growing pains. But she said dissatisfaction was clear across the state.
Teachers, principals, superintendents and the general public all hammered PARCC in a survey she conducted this spring.
“The people of the state of Ohio seem to have spoken loudly that they don’t want the PARCC,” Lehner said.
Brittany Warner, spokesperson for House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, said the volume of complaints drove the change.
“The General Assembly felt it was necessary to intervene based off the many concerns expressed from administrators, teachers and parents,” Warner said.
PARCC spokesman David Connerty-Marin said Ohio’s decision is a “disappointment.”But he said the Common Core standards and improved tests are “a huge advance and a big victory for students across the country.”
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