The two consortia that won grants from the U.S. Department of Education to create more-uniform assessments are getting an extra $31.7 million to complete their work.
The extra money is aimed at helping the groups, which collectively represent 44 states and the District of Columbia, implement new assessment systems. In order to get the extra funding, the consortia will have to sketch out how they plan to transition to the new assessments.
The money was left over after the department allocated grants for the $4 billion Race to the Top state competition, the $350 million assessment competition, and the $650 million Investing in Innovation grant program. About $20 million of that was already in the assessment programs coffers but hadn’t yet been awarded.
