PARCC (Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) and the SMARTER BALANCED ASSESSMENT CONSORTIUM are competing consortia contracted to design the assessment process and tests to measure each student’s progress toward meeting or exceeding the Common Core State Standards.  Most states joined one of the consortia.  For example, Illinois joined PARCC, while Wisconsin joined SMARTER BALANCED.

Every Lesson-Up lesson plan contains a Practice Quiz and a Comprehensive Performance Examination designed to help learners succeed on either PARCC or SMARTER BALANCED assessment criteria. In addition, a major focus of the Soft Technical Skills Institute (STSI) is to monitor emerging assessments from PARCC and SMARTER BALANCED to incorporate advances into every Lesson-Up lesson plan.