Council of Chief State School Officers

This national association of state education commissioners has been helping a small number of states transition to new assessments aligned with the Common Core. This grant would finance planning for a larger project to help states make policy changes and address technical issues involved in using the new tests. The aim of this grant is to increase the likelihood that states will adopt the new assessments with fidelity to deeper learning.

Representing thirty-one member states, the Council's SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium is one of two federally funded consortia formed to develop a common K-12 student assessment system. The Consortium will coordinate with the higher education community to foster consensus on reasonable, rigorous student performance standards. This grant also would support improvements in the Consortium's management, outreach, and engagement with constituents. Its success is expected to be the centerpiece of the Education Program's Deeper Learning agenda, assuring that the K-12 common assessment system will involve rigorous testing and innovation, align with the postsecondary sector, and be widely adopted by states.