The Past, Present, and Future of Large‐Scale Assessment Consortia

Abstract

This article provides a history of the two large‐scale assessment consortia that were funded in 2010 as part of the Race to the Top Competition, the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC), and the Smarter‐Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC). I compare the goals the consortia were funded to meet between 2011 and 2015 with the assessment systems PARCC and SBAC were able to deliver. Two notable accomplishments of both consortia were the development of high‐quality summative assessments that were carefully designed to be accessible to all test‐takers. I describe factors that led many states to withdraw from consortia membership between 2011 and 2015, and which led to the effective dissolution of PARCC. I discuss lessons learned from serving on the PARCC and SBAC technical advisory committees, and make a case for the value proposition of assessment consortia in the future.