Ed. Businesses Could Cash In on Common Assessment Struggles

With all but six states planning to adopt new common-core assessments in the coming years, states could be risking huge drop-offs in proficiency scores compared with their own standardized tests.

Policymakers are faced with a decision: to increase the rigor of state tests in advance of the common assessments, or prepare for the new tests well enough that students' scores won't plummet.

But the potential for embarrassment in states with wide gaps in scores between state-specific and common assessments could mean an opportunity in the eyes of...