If the testing will cost more, will Kansas look to what a school district in Ohio is proposing – a permanent tax increase?
And don’t forget the additional phone tax.
Common Core Standards cost will be more in the future – KSN.COM
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas education officials believe the cost of testing students on the new Common Core standards will be less than national estimates but more than what the state has currently been paying.
Kansas schools will start testing students on the Common Core reading and math standards in 2015. The standards were developed by a national consortium of states and other educational interests and adopted by Kansas in 2010.
The state spends about $4.6 million annually to give the current battery of tests to about 250,000 students a year. Kansas Department of Education Commissioner Diane DeBacker told the Lawrence Journal-World (http://bit.ly/18CkLFz ) the cost of the Common Core-based tests will be below the national estimate of $11.2 million to $13.4 million because Kansas won’t use all the services offered by test developers.
“We’re expecting it to be more than what we’re paying now because we’re asking the assessment to do more,” DeBacker said.
Kansas has contracted with the Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation at the University of Kansas, and those tests have always been multiple-choice exams graded by machines. The new Common Core process asks states to use complex testing that includes more writing by students.
“We’ve said for many years (the current test format) doesn’t tell us what students know and can do,” DeBacker said. “It’s just regurgitation of information. When you enhance a test or want to make it more relevant and informative, then you have to look at constructive responses. … That’s going to cost more money.”
The State Board of Education has yet to decide what test will be used in 2015.
Kansans Against Common Core 