On Georgia's Withdrawal from PARCC

Last week, the state of Georgia decided to formally withdraw from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) consortium. Here is Georgia Education Superintendent John Barge's explanation for the decision.  Link:  Barge's Explanation
In a nutshell: PARCC costs too much, and we can come up with stuff that's just as good.

My response to his explanation:
This is as unacceptable an explanation as we could possibly have hoped for. Georgia spends a measly $18.00 per student for assessments, and the state won't increase this for PARCC, let alone to a level that is on par with other states like Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania. We can't afford $30 million dollars for students for their DIRECT benefit, but we can afford $300 million dollars to dig out Savannah harbor with our fingers crossed that students as well as the rest of Georgia may hopefully one day benefit from its trickle-down largesse.

It is very tiresome when political leaders continually say, "You're just going to have to trust us on this. We know what's best" -- particularly on an issue like education, where Georgia has languished for GENERATIONS! Two years ago, you all agreed that PARCC and RTTTop were the golden ticket, even though you knew then that it was going to be expensive. But now you say that Georgia was only in the consortium just to see what was going on -- camel's nose under the tent, in other words -- and then we sneak away! How noble!! Great lesson for the kids: "You don't have to expend any effort, kids. Just copy from your neighbor's test!!"

You say, Mr. Barge, that our forthcoming tests will be just as good, just as rigorous as PARCC -- but, students won't have to spend as long being tested, and the in-house system won't cost as much. HUH?!?! How are you going to square the circle on that one in a reliable and valid manner???

I think the real reason is that you have burned your political bridges with the GOP (charter schools kerfuffle), and they've made you drink the kool-aid on this one, or they're going to show you the door come next election cycle. As for the Governor, he has to get rid of an issue that is so volatile with the Tea Party wing because he has a guy up in Dalton who can stir up trouble for him with the base and make him spend more money in the primary than he would otherwise like to. He needs this CCS/PARCC issue to go away, just like his junk yard.

I just hope that for your penance they don't make you go down to Savannah and help dig out the river with a little plastic shovel.

Per pupil spending on Assessment systems (go to pg. 9)
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2012/11/29%20cost%20of%20assessment%20chingos/11_assessment_chingos_final.pdf (go to page 9)