Court upholds South Dakota use of Common Core testing group

Education Week American Education News Site of Record

Court upholds South Dakota use of Common Core testing group

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota Supreme Court this week upheld the state's participation in a group that developed Common Core-aligned testing for students and ruled that the assessments don't violate state law.

The high court in an opinion filed Wednesday affirmed a lower court's decision in favor of the state and South Dakota officials. The Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center had sued on behalf of two South Dakota parents over the state's membership in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, which developed exams to test students on the Common Core state standards in math and English language arts.

The conservative Christian Thomas More Law Center wrote in a news release announcing the 2015 lawsuit that it was stepping up its attack on Common Core with the litigation. A circuit court judge last year sided with the state, and the two parents and taxpayers, Shelli Grinager and Amber Mauricio, appealed the decision.

The state Supreme Court rejected claims that member states must get congressional approval of the consortium. The court also shot down the parents' argument that administering the consortium's computer-adaptive assessments violates a state law that requires the state to administer the same assessment to all students in each tested grade.

Tony Venhuizen, chief of staff to Gov. Dennis Daugaard, said the state is pleased with the opinion. Grinager and attorneys for the parents didn't immediately reply to messages requesting comment. Mauricio declined to comment to The Associated Press.

The South Dakota Board of Education adopted the Common Core standards in math and English language arts in 2010. The standards outline what students ought to know and should be able to do at each grade's end.

Copyright 2017 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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via Education Week American Education News Site of Record May 4, 2017 at 09:04AM
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