The Arkansas Senate voted Thursday for a bill barring the state Board of Education from renewing its participation in the Partnership Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, exam for more than a year after the 2015-16 school year or any subsequent school year.
In a 22-2 vote, the Senate sent House Bill 1241, by Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, back to the House to concur with the Senate's amendments to it.
The House-approved version of the bill would have required the state to stop participating in PARCC after June 30, 2015, but the Senate Education Committee changed the bill last week.
State Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, told senators that she is the Senate sponsor of the bill because she has received "a lot of feedback from teachers and administrators, and particularly my own children."
Under the amended bill, the Education Board is prohibited from renewing its role as a governing state or its participation with PARCC, or from entering into any contract or agreement longer than one year related to statewide assessments for public school students after the 2015-16 school year.
The Education Board will be required to take into "consideration any recommendations" made by the Governor's Council on Common Core Review before entering into any contract or agreement related to statewide assessments for public school students for the 2016-17 school year.
The legislation says it doesn't prevent the state Department of Education from completing activities related to PARCC to finish the 2014-15 school year, including all activities related to the scoring and reporting of the 2014-15 assessments.
It also says that starting June 1 neither the state Board of Education nor the state Department of Education "shall provide access to any individually identifiable student data collected" at the state level to any of the federal Department of Education's groups if the audit is required under federal law without the written consent of a student's parent or legal guardian .
Metro on 03/27/2015