I’m not sure about California, but the PARCC tests Ohio school children will take are just the opposite. The ninth grade language arts sample test that I took was brutal. I knew the content due to my degrees, but the content is far beyond what a ninth grader has been exposed to. Additionally, the questions are awkwardly worded. I was constantly trying to figure out what it was that I was supposed to do. We’re looking at a disaster in Ohio, which was planned by PARCC and Pearson. They are getting billions for their role in this debacle, and they will get even more $$$ to “fix” the problems that are going to arise. The PARCC testing failure will make the healthcare website look like a slight oversight.
Before PARCC there was ADP. Another consortium, and it fell apart when the federal dollars went away...or that was at least part of the reason.
According to wiki, 23 states and the District of Columbia was the high-water mark for PARCC, now down to 12 states.
As someone who works in the educational testing business, I don’t think it will be around all that long...unless the republicans decide to keep it federally funded. I am not sure of the funding schedule for PARCC, probably scheduled a bit different than ADP, but I don’t think states are signing on at this point.