Smarter Balanced: On Track and Moving Forward

Smarter Balanced: On Track and Moving Forward

Presentation delivered as part of the series:Spotlight on Assessment, Evaluation, and ResearchReady, Set, Go: Smarter Balanced Assessment System in ConnecticutMarch 31, 2014

Joe Willhoft, Executive Director

AgendaHow is Smarter Balanced Different?

Progress in Developing the Assessment SystemField TestAddressing Key Issues:Technology

Student Privacy

Setting Performance Standards (“cut scores”)

Sustainability

About Smarter Balanced

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium

24 states & territories (22 governing, 1 advisory, 1 affiliate)K-12 & Higher Education Leads in each state

A Balanced Assessment System

Common Core State Standards specify K-12 expectations 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

Interim assessments

Flexible, open, used for actionable feedback

Summative assessments

Benchmarked to college and career readiness

Teacher resources for

formative assessment practices

to improve instruction

Describe Explain Interpret

Level One

(Recall)

Level Three

(

Strategic Thinking)

(Extended Thinking)

Level Two

(Skill/

Concept)

Design

Synthesize

Connect

Apply Concepts

Critique

Analyze

Create

Prove

Arrange

Calculate

Draw

Repeat

Tabulate

Recognize

Memorize

Identify

Who, What, When, Where, Why

List

Name

Use

Illustrate

Measure

Define

Recall

Match

Graph

Classify

Cause/Effect

Estimate

Compare

Relate

Infer

Categorize

Organize

Interpret

Predict

Modify

Summarize

Show

Construct

Develop a Logical Argument

Assess

Revise

Apprise

Hypothesize

Investigate

Critique

Compare

Formulate

Draw Conclusions

Explain

Differentiate

Use Concepts to Solve

Non-Routine Problems

Level Four

Source: Webb, Norman L. and others, “Web Alignment Tool” 24 July 2005. Wisconsin Center of Educational Research,

University

of Wisconsin-Madison, 2 Feb 2006

6

Assessing the

Common Core

Smarter Balanced assessments move beyond basic skills and recall to assess

higher-order skills such as critical

thinking and problem solving

Educator Involvement

Accessibility & Accommodations

8

Note: For detailed information, see the

Smarter Balanced Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines

Assessing College Readiness

Test Development Update

Assessment Development

Pilot Test: Approximately 650,000 students at more than 4,000 schoolsField Test: Expect more than 3 million students at more than 20,000 schools

Field Testing: A Practice Run of New Assessments

“Tests the tests” to ensure fair and accurate assessments for all students in spring 2015Gives teachers and schools chance to practice test administration procedures and gauge tech readinessGives students opportunity to experience the new assessmentsNo individual or school scores/results will be produced

Field Test: A Practice Run of New AssessmentsWhy it matters

Makes it “real” for the first time for teachers, parents and the general public.Across Smarter Balanced and PARCC, will involve more than 5 million students in 36 states plus D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands.Opportunity to talk about the value of the new assessments and the standards.Culmination of two years’ work by states, administrators, teachers, and students

Testing Window: March

25 to June 6All 22 Governing States and US Virgin IslandsAt least 3 million students (research sample = 1.9M)Most states: 10% of students in English, 10% in math

Several states (CA, CT, ID, MT, SD) testing most or all students

More than 20,000 schools in more than 4,000 districts

21,000 questions/performance tasks in English and math, grades 3-8 and 11

Field Test Scope

Resources to Help Schools Prepare

Practice Test (will be updated May 2014)Both subject areas, grades 3 through 8 and 11Approx. 23 items & 1 performance task in

each subject

Uses same software as operational test

Most accessibility and accommodation features

Training Test

Quick Introduction to Smarter Balanced interface, item types, and resources

14 items combined in English and math (all item types represented)

Grade bands (

3 – 5, 6 – 8,

and high school)

All accessibility

and accommodation

features

Communications Toolkit of Easily Customizable Resources:

Parent Notification Letter (in English and Spanish) and Robo

-call ScriptParent Q&A

PowerPoint

Presentation (suitable for use at PTA meetings)

Newsletter Article

Web Buttons to drive traffic to Practice and Training Test

Visit http://sbac.portal.airast.org/

Resources to Help Schools ImplementSmarter Balanced Field Test FAQ for Test Coordinators and Administrators

: This document includes answers to questions that schools and districts have frequently sent to the Field Test Help Desk.  Guide to the Smarter Balanced Field Test:  Factsheet that is appropriate for sharing with parents, community leaders, and the general public on http://www.smarterbalanced.org/field-test/

Getting Students Ready for the Field Test —Information on Item and Response Types

:

 This document catalogues the various item types that students may encounter on the Smarter Balanced assessment, describes how students will respond to each item type, and lists where examples of each type of item can be found in the Practice and Training Tests.  

Accessibility

Guide for Classroom Activities

: This resource provides teachers with support options that may be implemented during the Classroom Activity for students , as

needed

Guidelines for Read Aloud, Test Reader

:

These

guidelines will assist state staff, test administrators, educators, and scribes in ensuring read aloud is conducted in a standardized.Test Administrator User Guide: This resource supports individuals using the Test Delivery System applications to manage testing for students participating in the Field Test.

Addressing Key Issues

Technology Requirements Responsive to School NeedsOnline “Readiness Tool” allows s

chools and districts to evaluate technology readinessStandards have been established for new and existing hardwareSchools do NOT need one-to-one computersTechnology standards

maximize

access to online testing

(support for older machines and operating systems, small file size to reduce bandwidth requirements)

School with 600 students could test online with a single 30-computer lab

Smarter Balanced Tech

Readiness Calculator allows schools to estimate number of testing days and associated

bandwidth

Pencil-and-paper option available for three-year

transition period

Safeguarding Student PrivacyStates endorsed principle that each state will retain control of its student data.

Smarter Balanced will share no student-level information with the federal government.Smarter Balanced will not provide data to third parties (e.g. researchers) without state approval.PARCC and Smarter chiefs recently sent letter to Secretary Duncan affirming that consortia will not change state reporting practices.Each state has entered data privacy and security agreements to safeguard student information.

Student Privacy (cont.)Smarter Balanced will collect only the following student-level information:

An identification number (the Consortium recommends that this number be different from the state’s official unique student identifier, so that only the state can tie back to the student’s official education record);Students’ race/ethnicity, gender, grade level, school attendedEligibility for English language development services or special education

services;

Eligibility for Title I compensatory programs; and

Smarter Balanced test scores, achievement levels, and responses to test items

.

Smarter Balanced will NOT require states to report student name or date of birth

.

Smarter Balanced will never sell student information to anyone.

Setting Performance Standards Content Standards (Common Core) define what students must know and be able to do. Performance Standards define

how well or how thoroughly students have mastered the content standards.Currently, each state sets its own performance standards.Under Smarter Balanced, seeking consensus among 22 states! Four Performance Levels: Level 3 = on track to college/career readiness at a particular grade.

Standards set through a deliberative process involving primarily K-12 teachers and higher education faculty. Opportunities for parent involvement as well.

Standard setters will be able to reference outside benchmarks (e.g. NAEP, SAT, ACT)

Standard Setting Calendar

A Smarter Future

Sustaining Smarter BalancedFederal grant funding consortium expires 9/30/14Working with UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies to serve as host and partner for a sustainable Smarter Balanced.

Key principles: Retain state led governance of the Consortium (only minor changes to governance structure envisioned). Shared state ownership of the item pool, digital library, and other

IP.

Smarter Balanced will perform services necessary to maintain quality and comparability of the assessment system; states and their vendors will manage test administration.

Future WorkContinuing the work of the Proficiency Based Learning Task ForceInvesting in supports for mathematic reasoning

Validating AI scoring and promoting the value of handscoringCommission additional formative modulesCommission additional items and tasksMove summative items and tasks from summative to interimValidate achievement standards and the assessment itself

Questions/Discussion