LinkIt! Releases Common Core Readiness Assessments

  • By Tim Sohn
  • 05/15/13

Data-driven educational technology company LinkIt! has unveiled assessments designed to prepare students in grades 2 to 8 for Common Core standards. The Common Core readiness assessments focus on new assessments from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.

Educational content developer Curriculum Concepts International partnered with LinkIt! to create the assessments.

PARCC and SBAC are the two cornsortia that received funding from the United States Department of Education in 2010 to develop Common Core-aligned assessments in time for deployment in the 2014-2015 school year.

According to LinkIt!, it recently had 500 principals complete "Step Back, Leap Forward: a 2012-2013 Data Driven Instruction Survey." Results showed that 95 percent of respondents are at least "somewhat concerned" with students' skills in reading and understanding for Common Core requirements, and 40 percent reported they were "worried" or "very worried."

Features of Common Core readiness assessments include:

  • Assessments based on prototypes developed by PARCC and SBAC;
  • Prioritization of content subjects into "major clusters" and "supporting clusters," as defined by PARCC;
  • Three tests with 30 to 35 questions each for administration throughout the year;
  • Rubrics and rationales so grading scales are consistent; and
  • A variety of question formats that reflect types in PARCC and Smarter Balanced assessments.

LinkIt! recommended that school districts have students complete assessments online. However, they can be provided for both online and offline use.

For more information, visit linkit.com.

About the Author

Tim Sohn is a 10-year veteran of the news business, having served in capacities from reporter to editor-in-chief of a variety of publications including Web sites, daily and weekly newspapers, consumer and trade magazines, and wire services. He can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @editortim.

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