The Arkansas Board of Education has approved a new standardized test to replace an assessment associated with the controversial Common Core standards, less than a month after rejecting the switch backed by the governor.
The board on Thursday voted 4-2 to authorize officials to sign a contract with the ACT tests for the coming school year. Two members of the nine-person board opposed to the move abstained from the vote.
The board last month rejected Gov. Asa Hutchinson's request to replace the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers Consortium test with the ACT tests. But the Republican governor days later ordered state Education officials to drop out of the testing group.
Hutchinson has since appointed three new members to the board. All three supported the switch Thursday.