Federal Government Provides $330 Million For College Ready Tests

  The  Obama administration has made huge grants to create new testing formats and designs that  will link k-12 statewide tests to college standards. This is the second phase of the common core standards movement that will spread to 44 states. These assessments will start from college readiness and work back to the elementary grades.

The Department of Education announced awards of some $330 million to two state coalitions – representing 44 states and the District of Columbia – for the design of new assessment systems aligned to the common-core standards. The grant money will be divided almost equally between the two applicants in the competition, which is part of Race to the Top. A third group of 12 states that applied for a smaller, $30 million pot under a separate but related competition to support specific exams at the high school level, failed to win an award