The Assessment Consortia
The U.S. Department of Education has provided grants to a total of six Assessment Consortia to support the development of next-generation assessment systems:
- two Comprehensive Assessment Consortia (see below);
- two Alternate Assessment Consortia; and
- two English Language Proficiency Assessment Consortia.
The Comprehensive Assessment Consortia
Discussions with the Consortia Leaders and Educators
Discussions with Consortia Leaders
In this series of recorded webinars, leaders of the two assessment Consortia discuss their
ongoing development work and future plans.
Discussions with Educators
In this publication, educators discuss how the Common Core State Standards will affect Mathematics and English Language Arts in grades 3–12 across America.
Guide to the Assessment Consortia
This is an introduction to the two Comprehensive Assessment Consortia (PARCC and Smarter Balanced), the two Alternate Assessment Consortia (DLM and NCSC) and the two English Language Proficiency Assessment Consortia (ASSETS and ELPA21).
- UPDATED Coming Together to Raise Achievement: New Assessments for the Common Core State Standards (PDF) (March 2014, Revised)
- NEW Download the complete summaries of only those consortia you are interested in:
- Prior Versions:
Approved by the Consortia. Please reprint as desired, with attribution to the K–12 Center at ETS.
Slides For Presentations
The following slide deck contains illustrations of each of the five assessment consortia. Approved by the Consortia in March 2012. Please use as desired, with attribution to the K–12 Center at ETS.
- NEW Update on the State-Led and State-Governed Comprehensive Assessment Consortia: PARCC and Smarter Balanced (PDF): Pascal Forgione, Ph.D., K–12 Center at ETS. (July 2014) Download the PowerPoint version.
- Update on the PARCC and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia (PDF) (August 2013) Download the PowerPoint version.
- Illustrations of all five Assessment Consortia (PowerPoint) (April 2012)
This animated slide presentation walks viewers through the components of each Consortium design as of August 2011 and can be modified for local use.
- Common Core Standards Assessments Presentation (PowerPoint) (August 2011)
At-A-Glance
For those desiring very short summaries:
- NEW Key similarities and differences between the Comprehensive Assessment Consortia, PARCC and Smarter Balanced (PDF) (January 2015)
- NEW One-page summaries of PARCC (PDF) and Smarter Balanced (PDF) (January 2015)
- One-page summaries of PARCC (PDF) and Smarter Balanced (PDF) (November 2014)
- A Step Change in K–12 Testing: Updated one-page summaries of each of the six federally funded assessment consortia (PDF) (August 2013)
- Brief 4-page overview of the PARCC and Smarter Balanced assessment systems (PDF) (March 2013)
- One-page illustrations of PARCC and Smarter Balanced (PDF) (April 2012)
- State Adoption of Common Standards and Assessments: What Do States Gain and Give Up? (PDF) (November 2011)
- Prior Versions of PARCC and Smarter Balanced illustrations
You'll find additional helpful information about the Assessment Consortia and the development of assessments for the Common Core State Standards at ETS's website www.commonassessments.org.