Kentucky was the first state to implement the Common Core standards, and the first state to test them. The state has another distinction: It is one of the few states that has no charter schools. Communities in Kentucky are committed to their community public schools–so far.

Kentucky has a school that is very different from most other public schools: this school has no standardized testing.

Bate Middle School in Danville, Kentucky, decided to ditch the tests and to adopt performance assessments. As they searched the nation looking for a successful, they discovered New York City’s Performance Standards Consortium, which has been thriving without standardized tests for years. Students are expected to create projects to demonstrate what they have learned. This is the model that Bate selected, and it is working well.

98% of the staff voted to approve the new test-free plan. But the legislature was divided:

“A bill to allow Danville to skip the state tests unanimously passed the House in April of this year but was shot down in the Senate. The state Department of Education says discussions to find alternatives are ongoing. Regardless of what happens, the district will still give the ACT and its practice tests in 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th grades. (ACT scores are tied to scholarship money for public university students in Kentucky, and the nationally recognized test will help them benchmark student learning.)

“But the yearly grind of prepping for weeks for state tests is over for now. Swann says it’s making a big difference in what teachers do every day, especially in their ability to tailor instruction to each student’s needs and interests.”

Bate may have found a felicitous combination: the schools uses the Common Core standards, but not the Common Core tests.