Emanuel Defends CPS Decision To Administer PARCC Test
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Emanuel is defending the decision by Chicago Public School officials to back down on their resistance to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test, reports WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore.
Mayor Emanuel says that while CPS officials are still committed to the Common Core curriculum, they still feel the controversial new standardized test ordered by the state and the feds is burdensome to children and not ready for mass distribution.
But, he says CPS had no choice but to administer the test to all third through eighth grade students.
"Once the federal government and the state were threatening to cut hundreds of millions of dollars off, which would have dramatically…increased the teacher-student ratio, it was clear that that was a consequence," Emanuel said. "That was a bridge too far."
CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett said it would be irresponsible of her to put the schools in danger of losing so much funding.