Common Core State Standards and assessments are designed to determine whether students are prepared to enter college and give schools the time to support students where intervention is needed. Many hope that the transition to Common Core State Standards and the Smarter Balanced assessments will facilitate student transitions to postsecondary education.
Last spring, millions of students across the country took new tests aligned to college and career readiness standards. More than 200 colleges in 7 states have agreed to recognize the Grade 11 assessments produced by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium as evidence that students are ready for credit-bearing courses and can be exempted from developmental courses. According to an April 2015 article in Inside Higher Ed, more than 100 colleges in California, 10 in Hawaii, 24 in Oregon, 49 in Washington and 6 in South Dakota use the Smarter Balanced assessment as a placement exam. Four colleges in Delaware announced this year that they would accept scores from Common Core-based Smarter Balanced assessment in lieu of a separate placement exam.
By using the assessments in this way, higher education is providing tangible support to K-12 educators as they raise standards and improve instruction to prepare high school graduates to succeed in college or postsecondary career education and training. These efforts are also providing students, parents, and teachers with clear, coherent information about what students must know and be able to do to succeed in first-year courses.
AACRAO and NACAC are co-sponsoring a live, free webinar on Friday, September 11 from 3:00-4:00pm ET, during which you will hear from practitioners (including Jacqueline King, director, higher education collaboration at the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium), and gain practical information about how the new Common Core assessments are changing the transition from high school to college.
For more information and to register, click here.