Eight state House members sent a letter to Jindal Monday afternoon asking him to nix a years-old agreement that has Louisiana helping craft the Partnership of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test. The governor, who once supported Common Core and the PARCC, said he is in favor of the state's withdrawal from the group developing the assessment at this point. Jindal also indicated that he hopes the anti-Common Core efforts currently brewing in the Legislature succeed.
"We share the concerns of these [anti-Common Core] legislators and also of parents across Louisiana. We're hopeful that legislation will move through the process this session that will address the concerns of parents or delay implementation until these concerns can be addressed. We think this course of action outlined in the legislators' letter remains a very viable option if the Legislature does not act," said Jindal in a written statement.
In some ways, pulling out of the PARCC consortium would be a largely symbolic gesture on behalf of the Jindal administration, since the group's work crafting the test is almost done. The state signed on to Common Core in 2010 and is set to start giving the PARCC to third-through-eighth graders in 2015. Louisiana has not technically signed up to use the PARCC yet, thought it's assumed, as a member of the test's consortium, that the state would implement the assessment.
Jindal's withdraw from PARCC - and Common Core by extension -- is likely to play well with a vocal group of parents and lawmakers who have serious reservations about the assessment. Common Core critics, particularly those with conservative political leanings, believe the PARCC could cause Louisiana to lose control over its student data and risk children's privacy, since it will likely be used by several states. They also say the test will be expensive to implement, though its costliness is a point of contention with PARCC backers.
