Kansas will leave a 17-state Smarter Balance Consortium that has been working on new assessments to meet the Kansas College and Career Ready standards, and instead will have the University of Kansas develop new assessments.

The State Board of Education made the decision this week.

In Geary USD 475 Superintendent of Schools Ron Walker said a lot of people were upset because they had been planning for the Smarter Balanced assessment, and now that’s not going to happen. “That assessment I believe may have been paid for already, so now we go switch to a different agency. We’ll just have to wait. I think it probably as far as assessments places us two years behind.”

Walker noted district officials trust KU in their development. “We think they can do a great job. They maybe can do an even better job. But we spent two years working on something that doesn’t exist.”

The assessments help teachers and administrators guide instruction for students.