A Look Inside the Smarter Balanced Assessment System

Las Vegas Community GatheringLas Vegas, NevadaNovember 22, 2013

Joe Willhoft, Executive Director

“Not just another test”…Smarter Balanced is being built by states for states

Connecting learning to life after high school – career or college

Providing meaningful information to guide student growth

Preparing Nevada students for a changing world

Keeping Nevada educators in the driver’s seat

Supporting teachers with a practical suite of resources

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• 26 member states and territories -- about 40% of nation’s K-12 students

• 23 Governing States, 2 Advisory States, 1 Affiliate Member

A State-led Assessment Consortium

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Improving Teaching & Learning

Common Core State Standards specify

K-12 expectatio

ns for college and

career readiness

All students

leave high

school college

and career ready

Teachers and schools have information and tools

they need to improve

teaching and learning

Summative: College and career

readiness assessments for

accountability

Interim: Flexible and open

assessments, used for actionable

feedback

Formative resources:Supporting

classroom-based assessments to

improve instruction

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A Balanced Assessment System

School Year Last 12 weeks of the year*

DIGITAL CLEARINGHOUSE OF FORMATIVE TOOLS, PROCESSES AND EXEMPLARS Released items and tasks; Model curriculum units; Educator training; Professional development tools and resources; Scorer training modules; Teacher collaboration tools; Evaluation of publishers’ assessments.

English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics, Grades 3-8 and High School

Computer Adaptive

Assessment andPerformance

Tasks

Computer Adaptive

Assessment andPerformance

TasksScope, sequence, number and timing of interim assessments locally determined

*Time windows may be adjusted based on results from the research agenda and final implementation decisions.

PERFORMANCE TASKS

• ELA/Literacy• Mathematics

Re-take option

COMPUTER ADAPTIVE

TESTS

• ELA/Literacy• Mathematics

Optional Interim

Assessment

Optional Interim

Assessment

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Overall Claim for Grades 3-8

Overall ELA/Literacy Score

Reading

Writing

Listening

Research/Inquiry

Individual Score Reports for Grades 3-8 and 11

Overall Mathematics Score

Concepts & Procedures

Problem Solving/Modeling & Data Analysis

Communicating Reasoning

Student Scores for ELA/Literacy Student Scores for Mathematics

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Purposes and Users for the Summative Assessments

Grades Tested Purpose User

3-8 and 11 School/District/State Accountability Federal ESEA/NCLB

11 Student Readiness for Credit-bearing College Coursework

Higher Ed. Institutions

9, 10, 12 State Designed End-of-Course, Graduation Requirements, etc.

State Option

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Smarter BalancedGetting Ready for the Tests

Major Milestones in Development of Summative Assessments

Cognitive Labs Apr –

Aug 2012

Small Scale

Trials Mar –

Nov 2012

Pilot TestingFeb – May 2013

Field Test

Mar – June 2014

Deploy For

Operational Use

Sep 2014

✔ ✔ ✔

Early Q.C. of items & software; no student results Full system run-through; Establish performance standards;some results

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Field Testing

• March - June 2014

• Sampling about 20% of students in Consortium

• Purpose: Evaluate items and tasks for Smarter Balanced pool…

Statistical data analysis of 20,000+ items Divide items/tasks into secure (summative) pool

and open (interim) pool Conduct standard setting for different performance

levels (“cut scores”)

• US Dept. of Ed flexibility to avoid double testing

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Estimated Testing Times for 2014 Field Test and 2015 Operational Assessment

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Test TypeGrade

s CAT

Perf. Task Only Total

Class Activity Total

English Language

Arts

3-5 1:30 2:00 3:30 :30 4:00

6-8 1:30 2:00 3:30 :30 4:00

11 2:00 2:00 4:00 :30 4:30

Mathematics

3-5 1:30 1:00 2:30 :30 3:00

6-8 2:00 1:00 3:00 :30 3:30

11 2:00 1:30 3:30 :30 4:00

COMBINED

3-5 3:00 3:00 6:00 1:00 7:00

6-8 3:30 3:00 6:30 1:00 7:30

11 4:00 3:30 7:30 1:00 8:30

Times are estimates of test length for most students. Smarter Balanced assessments are designed as untimed tests; some students may need and should be afforded more time than shown in this table.

Technology Requirements: Responding to School Needs

• Smarter states have established standards for new and existing hardware

• Online “Readiness Tool” – Schools and districts can evaluate technology readiness

• Schools do NOT need one-to-one computers– Illustrative example: A 600-student school can be supported by a

single 30-computer lab

– Smarter Balanced Readiness Calculator at: http://www3.cde.ca.gov/sbactechcalc/

• Pencil-and-paper option available for three-year transition period

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Accessibility & Accommodations

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Accessibility & Accommodations (from S.B. Guidelines)

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Take a Peek Under the Hood…The Smarter Balanced Practice Test

• Shows item types and tools/features

• Now available; Released May 29

• Expanded features being released over the summer/fall

http://www.smarterbalanced.org/practice-test

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