06/12/15  Board of Education Rejects Governors Recommendation

The Arkansas state Board of Education has rejected a recommendation endorsed by Governor Asa Hutchinson to change the provider of standardized tests. The Ark Democrat-Gazette reported yesterday the board voted 7-1 against changing from Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC tests and move to A-C-T tests.

The Governor's Council on Common Core Review recommended the change and the proposal was praised by the governor.  Hutchinson said the A-C-T tests would allow Arkansas to better track student performance and compare results with other states. Education Board members criticized the process as rushed, and voted not to make the switch with only board member Alice Mahoney voting against it.  The board then voted the same way to continue the PARCC assessments. In a recent South Arkansas Sunrise interview on KQ-102.3, 8^th District State representative Jeff Wardlaw had this to say about Common Core.