Standards and assessments.

The national movement towards common-core standards has just begun, but the implementation phase could be a long-awaited opportunity for online learning programs to play a significant role and allow them to "... start sharing, collaborating, and really refining what we're doing," according to Susan D. Patrick, president and CEO of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning. Online courses have typically been developed separately for each state; the common core standards offer the opportunity for states to work together. The virtual-learning community is also well-positioned to play an instrumental role in developing new assessments based on the common-core standards, according to Linda Pittenger of the Council of Chief State School Officers, since "assessment is often embedded into online curricula," she noted. [More--Education Week] (Jan. 12) (premium article access compliments of EdWeek.org)

High school students are expected to be taking more, not less, tests in the future. That is one of several key findings of the latest survey of high school exit exams conducted by the Center on Education Policy (CEP). The likely increase in testing could be a positive development, according to CEP's president, Jack Jennings, "but only if it's done right," he noted. The CEP study, its ninth annual report concerning high school testing, indicated an increase in the number of states using an exit exam for seniors to qualify for graduation. The number of states with an exit-exam requirement increased from 26 to 28 states in the past year. The trend of more assessments can be positive, Jennings noted with an accompanying caution--as long as lean budget times don't result in poorly designed, aligned, or implemented assessments. [More--Education Week] (premium article access compliments of EdWeek.org)] (Dec. 21)