Why Common Core?

PARCC

Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)

New York is one of 16 governing states that will lead the 25-state partnership in the development of a K-12 assessment system aligned to the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded a $170 million Race to the Top (RTTT) grant to PARCC to develop a common assessment system aligned to the Common Core State Standards. The assessments will be developed and tested over the next several years. The goals of PARCC are to:

  • Build a pathway to college and career readiness
  • Construct assessments that enable cross-state comparisons
  • Create better assessments
  • Make better use of technology in assessments
  • Match investments in testing with investments in teaching

PARCC has released draft Model Content Frameworks in English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics. The purpose of the model content frameworks is to:

  • Identify the big ideas in the Common Core State Standards for each grade level
  • Help determine the focus for the various PARCC assessment components
  • Support the development of the PARCC assessment blueprints