In the NY Times this weekend was an interesting article on a national overhaul in standardized tests. Over the next four years, two groups of states, 44 in all including California, will get $330 million to work with hundreds of university professors and testing experts to design a series of new tests that officials say will look completely different from those in use today.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said the tests will look for higher order thinking skills and be computer based.

“The use of smarter technology in assessments,” Mr. Duncan said, “makes it possible to assess students by asking them to design products of experiments, to manipulate parameters, run tests and record data.”

The assessments are being redesigned to align with the common core academic standards that nearly 40 states have recently adopted.

Check out the complete article here.