State-To-State SBAC Proficiency Comparisons Murky

The San Diego Union-Tribune (9/18) reports that while Education Secretary Arne Duncan and other policymakers had originally touted the Common Core’s “ability to finally compare student performance by state under the nation’s first universal academic standards,” state officials are now backing “away from any immediate comparisons due to differences in everything from student demographics to how students were tested to the exams that were administrated.” The paper notes, nevertheless, that California’s proficiency levels are “among the lowest” of the 10 states that have released SBAC test scores, and says that it remains “unclear” what this means for any of the states.