PART I.G.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

An eligible applicant (a consortium of states) must meet the following requirements to be eligible
to receive funds under this program. The Department will determine eligibility under these
requirements.

Eligibility Requirement (1):

To be eligible to receive an award under this category, an eligible applicant must include a
minimum of 15 States, of which at least 5 States must be governing States (as defined in the
NIA).

Directions: Complete the chart below. List the Governing States first and place an asterisk next
to each Governing State. Then, list all other state members of the consortium. Additional rows
may be added.

PARTNERSHIP FOR ASSESSMENT OF READINESS

FOR COLLEGE AND CAREERS
(Place an asterisk next to each Governing State.)
1. Arizona* 2. District of Columbia*
3. Florida* 4. Illinois*
5. Indiana* 6. Louisiana*
7. Maryland* 8. Massachusetts*
9. New York* 10. Rhode Island*
11. Tennessee* 12. Alabama
13. Arkansas 14. California
15. Colorado 16. Delaware
17. Georgia 18. Kentucky
19. Mississippi 20. New Hampshire
21. New Jersey 22. North Dakota
23. Ohio 24. Oklahoma
25. Pennsylvania 26. South Carolina

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Membership in the Partnership
Differentiated State Roles. The Partnership‘s membership structure is designed to balance two
equally important priorities: (1) providing opportunities for broad participation, engagement and
consensus-building among all member states over the next four years; and (2) establishing a
governance structure that places the most critical final decisions in the hands of states that have
made the greatest commitment to help create and ultimately implement the proposed assessment
system.

Member states may choose between two different state roles within the Partnership —
Governing State or Participating State — both of which carry distinct rights and responsibilities.
The role that any particular state plays is determined by the level of its formal commitment to the
Partnership. The eligibility criteria, responsibilities and rights for state roles are as follows.

Governing States. Governing States make the strongest commitment to the Partnership and our
activities and therefore have the most decisionmaking authority. Each Governing State commits
to participate exclusively in this consortium under the Comprehensive Assessment Systems
category of the Race to the Top (RTTT) Assessment Competition and will administer the
Partnership‘s assessments fully in its state by the 2014–15 school year. Furthermore, Governing
States in the Partnership have committed to use the results from the proposed assessment system
in their state accountability systems, including for determinations of school effectiveness and for
teacher and school leader evaluations to provide strong signals about the kinds of instruction and
student performances necessary to increase readiness rates across Partnership states. Governing
States also commit to providing staff to support the Partnership‘s activities and coordinate the
state‘s participation in the Partnership by serving on the committees and working groups that will
conduct the major assessment design and development activities of the Partnership and by
working within their states to regularly update key state leaders on the Partnership‘s work and
progress.

Because of their strong commitment to the Partnership‘s work, Governing States‘ chief state
school officers will serve on the Partnership‘s Governing Board (described below) and have the
right to make decisions on behalf of the Partnership on major policies and operational
procedures. Through the Partnership‘s Governing Board, Governing States will contribute to —

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and approve — the assessment system design, help make decisions on major Partnership
expenditures, and provide direction to the fiscal agent and project management partner.
Additionally, Governing States must devote staff to participate in the Partnership‘s design
committees and working groups; participate in the piloting and field testing of the assessment
system components and tools in 2011–12, 2012–13 and 2013–14; and remove any legal or
statutory barriers to implementing the assessment system before full administration in 2014–15.

Any Partnership state that is prepared to make the commitments and take on the responsibilities
described above will automatically become a Governing State.

Participating States. States that want to participate in the design of the Partnership‘s assessment
system but are not prepared to make the level of commitment of Governing States will be
Participating States. These states must commit to participate in the piloting and field testing of
assessment system components in 2011–12, 2012–13 and 2013–14, but do not need to commit
exclusively to this consortium during that period. By 2014–15, however, any state that remains
in the Partnership — including Participating States — must commit to statewide implementation
and administration of the Partnership‘s assessment system.

The rights of Participating States are designed to provide them with the opportunity for
engagement in the Partnership‘s work without requiring them to make the same commitments as
Governing States. They are invited — and encouraged — to provide staff to serve on design
committees, working groups and other task forces established by the Governing Board to
conduct the work necessary to design and develop the Partnership‘s proposed assessment system.
They will be given regular opportunities throughout the four-year development period to provide
input and feedback regarding the assessment system design and other Partnership business.

Fiscal Agent and Partnership Funds Management

The state of Florida will serve as the fiscal agent for the Partnership and will have responsibility
for managing funds received from the RTTT Assessment Program under the Comprehensive
Assessment Systems grant category. The fiscal agent will:
 Issue RFPs to procure goods and services on behalf of the Partnership or designate other
states to issue RFPs;

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  Assume fiduciary responsibility for the Partnership to manage grant funds received under
the RTTT Comprehensive Assessment Systems grant program, including responsibilities
related to administration of the grant;
 Contract with Achieve, Inc., which has been selected as the project management partner
through a competitive process; and
 Receive from Partnership states the identification of any current assessment requirements
in Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that would need to be
waived in order for Partnership states to fully implement the assessment system described
in section (A)(3) of this application, which the fiscal agent will, in turn, report to the U.S.
Department of Education.

While Florida will assume fiduciary responsibility for the grant funds, decisionmaking authority
regarding significant expenditures and disbursements of grant funds will be made by the
Governing Board. The Project Budget included as an attachment to section (A)(8) of this
application includes funds to cover the costs that Florida will incur to carry out its
responsibilities as fiscal agent, a portion of which Florida may use to contract with other
organizations to obtain assistance in managing and accounting for grant funds, such as hiring an
accounting firm.

Please refer to Summary Table (A)(1)(b)(ii) for the list of Partnership states and the role each has
elected to play.

RECOMMITMENT REQUIREMENT

States in this Partnership recognize that they might experience changes in political leadership
over the four-year project period. Therefore, in the event that the governor or chief state school
officer is replaced in a Partnership state, his or her successor must affirm in writing to the
Governing Board Chair within five months of taking office the state‘s continued commitment to
participate in the Partnership and to the binding commitments made by that official‘s
predecessor.

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JOINING AND LEAVING THE PARTNERSHIP

Non-Partnership states may apply to join the Partnership at any time, and member states may
leave the Partnership at any time.

Application Process for New Members. Non-Partnership states may apply for a role in the
Partnership at any time. Any state that wishes to join the Partnership after submission of this
application for RTTT Comprehensive Assessment Systems grant funds may apply for
membership as either a Governing State or a Participating State, provided that the state meets the
eligibility requirements for the role it wishes to assume. To apply, the state‘s Governor, Chief
State School Officer, and President of the State Board of Education (if applicable) must sign a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with all of the same commitments as existing
Partnership members. Furthermore, applicant states must provide letters of intent from the
leaders of one or more of the state‘s public systems or institutions of higher education (IHEs) to
participate in the Partnership, consistent with the letters of intent provided by IHEs in current
member states.

States that join the Partnership after this application is submitted will not be permitted to re-open
settled decisions pertaining to governance, design, development and implementation of the
proposed assessment system (such as the policies listed in Summary Table (A)(1)(b)(v) below),
nor will these states be permitted to participate in the review of proposals received in response to
any RFPs that the Partnership already has issued.

Membership Opt-Out Process. Partnership states are permitted to withdraw from the Partnership
at any time. To do so, the state‘s Governor, Chief State School Officer, and State Board of
Education President (if applicable) must submit written notice to the Chair of the Governing
Board at least 10 days prior to the effective date of the state‘s withdrawal from the Partnership.
Any state that wishes to withdraw from the Partnership must provide an explanation of its
reasons for leaving.

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PARTNERSHIP GOVERNANCE AND DECISIONMAKING PROTOCOLS

Governing Board
Composition. The Governing Board is comprised of the chief state school officer (or his or her
designee) from each Governing State and is chaired by a chief state school officer from one of
the Governing States. The Governing Board Chair will carry a one-year term, which may be
renewed; Governing States will nominate candidates, who will be selected by a majority vote of
the members of the Governing Board. The first Governing Board Chair will be Mitchell Chester,
the Commissioner of Education in Massachusetts.

Responsibilities. The Governing Board meets quarterly to consider input from all Partnership
states and to make major policy and operational decisions on behalf of the Partnership, including
decisions related to the overall design of the assessment system, common achievement levels for
the assessments, the Partnership‘s procurement strategy and modifications to the Partnership‘s
governance structure and decisionmaking process. The timeline for making major decisions,
which will be updated and distributed quarterly to all Partnership states, is determined by the
Partnership‘s work plan described in section (A)(8) of this application. Please refer to Summary
Table (A)(1)(b)(v) for the approximate dates on which the Partnership intends to adopt a number
of important common policies.

The Governing Board makes decisions by consensus. When consensus is not achieved, decisions
are made by a vote that requires a supermajority, defined as a majority of Governing States plus
one Governing State. The processes for Governing States to consider major policy and
procedural decisions, described in the Partnership‘s MOU (see Appendix (A)(1)-A-i), are
designed to build consensus across the Partnership and significantly reduce the need for the
Governing Board to vote on decisions.

Design, Advisory and Working Committees

The Partnership‘s Governing Board will form an Assessment Design Committee, design and
development committees, advisory committees, working groups and teams as necessary to carry
out the Partnership‘s work, including those specified throughout the rest of this application.

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When forming a committee, the Governing Board will seek nominations for members from
among all Governing States and Participating States, with the goal of maximizing involvement
across the Partnership while keeping groups to the optimal size for completing their charges.
Depending upon the committee, the team may include state assessment directors, higher
education faculty and leaders, and any other representatives from Partnership states who can
conduct relevant research and draft appropriate proposals. These committees will do the heavy
lifting necessary to design and develop a sophisticated common assessment system. They will
strive to reach consensus on major proposals; however, if the members cannot reach consensus, a
committee will recommend several options to the Governing Board, describing the strengths and
weaknesses of each, and the Governing Board will make the decision on behalf of the
Partnership.

Design committees also may make decisions on behalf of the Partnership regarding certain kinds
of policies that do not require decisions by the Governing Board, such as test specifications or
assessment policies regarding the use of calculators during testing. Design committees work
toward reaching consensus on such decisions; however, when consensus cannot be reached, the
decision can be made by a vote of the Governing State members of the design committee where
a majority plus one decides the issue. The Partnership‘s Governing Board will further enumerate
the cases in which the design committees can make decisions on behalf of the Partnership in the
Partnership‘s By-Laws, which will be adopted at the first Governing Board meeting. Design
committees will conduct their work as openly possible to keep all Partnership states informed,
obtain input and feedback, and build consensus before they decide on a policy or recommend a
policy to the Governing Board.

Biannual ―G
eneral Assembly‖ Meetings
The Partnership will hold two meetings each year for all Partnership states to review the progress
of the Partnership‘s work, obtain input relevant to upcoming decisions that will be made by the
Governing Board or design committees and address other issues of concern to member states.
For one meeting, the Partnership will invite leadership teams comprised of officials from the
state education agency, the state board of education, the governor‘s office and IHEs. The other
annual meeting will be for chief state school officers or their designees.

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As a mechanism to promote sustained engagement among member states, the Partnership will
leverage the biannual meetings to inform and engage new chief state school officers or other
state leaders who have been appointed or elected since the last convening, ensuring that those
new leaders receive detailed information about the Partnership‘s activities and major milestones
on the horizon and have an opportunity to ask questions or express concerns.

See Appendix (A)(1)-B for a graphic depicting PARCC‘s organizational structure.

PLAN FOR ADOPTING KEY POLICIES AND DEFINITIONS

The Governing Board will form design committees and other working groups necessary to carry
out the Partnership‘s work, and through the charters of these committees and the By-Laws of the
Partnership, the Board will agree to processes for adopting key policies and definitions related to
governing the Partnership and designing, developing and implementing the proposed assessment
system. Such policies include:

1. Procedures for the administration of the Governing Board‘s duties;

2. A common set of performance level descriptors;
3. A common set of CCR content standards;
4. A common set of achievement standards;
5. Common assessment administration procedures;
6. A common set of item release policies;
7. A common test security policy;
8. A common definition of ―
English learner‖;
9. A common set of policies and procedures for providing assessment accommodations for
English learners;
10. A common set of policies and procedures for providing assessment accommodations for
students with disabilities;
11. A common set of policies and procedures for participation of English learners in the
assessment system; and
12. A common set of policies and procedures for participation of students with disabilities in

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 the assessment system.

Please refer to Table (A)(1)(b)(v) for the approximate dates on which the Partnership intends to
initiate and complete each of these tasks.

PROCUREMENT PROCESS

The Partnership‘s procurement process is described in Addendum 3 to the Partnership‘s MOU.

Please see Appendices (A)(1) – A – ii through (A)(1) – A – xxvii for evidence of each
Partnership state‘s commitment to that process.

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