The school board in Portland, Oregon, may refuse to set annual achievement goals, in a show of resistance to Common Core testing.

“A month after asking the state to delay using Common Core-aligned state test results to grade schools, the Portland School Board appears ready to back that effort up with a refusal to set yearly achievement targets in three subjects linked to the new test.

“The board is set to vote next week upon the district’s proposed yearly goals for student achievement – which conspicuously don’t include targets for third grade reading, fifth-grade math and eighth-grade math.

“Oregon law requires school districts to file the yearly “achievement compacts” with the Oregon Education Investment Board, spelling out the district’s goals in areas such as student attendance, graduation rates, and state test pass rates. But during a meeting Monday night, the district committee charged with setting yearly targets declined to address the three subject areas linked to the state’s new Smarter Balanced Test, which is launching this year.

“The test, which students will take in the spring, replaces the longstanding Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. It is aligned with the more rigorous Common Core State Standards, a controversial new set of criteria for measuring student achievement.”

The board is not convinced that the test is either valid or reliable and refuses to be pushed into endorsing a new test based on controversial standards.