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PARCC Issues First Request for Proposals Ahead of 2014 Assessments

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) has issued a request for proposal (RFP) for "a computer-based test delivery platform, an assessment item repository, a data warehouse, score reporting tools, and a score reports design study," according to a news release from the 20-state consortium.

The selected technologies, which will be the first procured through RFP by PARCC, will be used to support parts of the assessments in their first full operational year, 2014-2015. Pearson's TestNav 8 will be used to administer the remainder.

Technical innovations sought by PARCC through the procurement include "greater degrees of student interaction with assessment items and more opportunities to write, graph, and create other forms of constructed responses that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills relative to the Common Core State Standards," according to information released by the consortium.

Other features sought by the organization include:

  • A flexible, modular, and scalable infrastructure;
  • Solutions must be open source;
  • Compatibility with an array of desktop, laptop, and tablet computers;
  • Web-based tools that will work as well in schools and districts with low bandwidth as they do in high-bandwidth environments; and
  • Test and data security and privacy.

Funded by a four-year $185 million grant from the United States Department of Education, PARCC is a consortium of 20 governing states and more 200 higher education institutions and systems working together to create common assessments. More information is available at parcconline.org.

To sign up to receive more information, or to see the full RFP, visit parcconline.org/procurement. Questions and requests for further information should be sent to [email protected].

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

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