Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium

On Track and Moving Forward

Urban District Leadership Networks

May 21-23 Tampa, FL

Joe Willhoft, Executive Director

A Next Generation of Assessments Align to Common Core State Standards in mathematics

and English language arts/literacy Rigorously assess progress toward “college and career

readiness” Use common cut scores across the Consortium Provide achievement and growth information Tests that are valid, reliable, and fair for all students

(except those with “significant cognitive disabilities”) Use multiple measures of student performance Use online technologies Be operational in the 2014-15 school year

A Balanced Assessment System

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

“Students can demonstrate progress toward college and career readiness in English Language arts and literacy.”

“Students can demonstrate college and career readiness in English language arts and literacy.”

“Students can read closely and analytically to comprehend a range of increasingly complex literary and informational texts.”

“Students can produce effective and well-grounded writing for a range of purposes and audiences.”

“Students can employ effective speaking and listening skills for a range of purposes and audiences.”

“Students can engage in research and inquiry to investigate topics, and to analyze, integrate, and present information.”

Overall Claim for Grades 3-8

Overall Claim for Grade 11

Claim #1 - Reading

Claim #2 - Writing

Claim #3 - Speaking and Listening

Claim #4 - Research/Inquiry

Score Reports for ELA/Literacy

“Students can demonstrate progress toward college and career readiness in mathematics.”

“Students can demonstrate college and career readiness in mathematics.”

“Students can explain and apply mathematical concepts and interpret and carry out mathematical procedures with precision and fluency.”

“Students can solve a range of complex well-posed problems in pure and applied mathematics, making productive use of knowledge and problem solving strategies.”

“Students can clearly and precisely construct viable arguments to support their own reasoning and to critique the reasoning of others.”

“Students can analyze complex, real-world scenarios and can construct and use mathematical models to interpret and solve problems.”

Overall Claim for Grades 3-8

Overall Claim for Grade 11

Claim #1 - Concepts & Procedures

Claim #2 - Problem Solving

Claim #3 - Communicating Reasoning

Claim #4 - Modeling and Data Analysis

Score Reports for Mathematics

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

3-8 and 11 Teacher/Principal Accountability

State/District Option

• 26 member states and territories representing 39% of K-12 students

• 21 Governing States, 4 Advisory States, 1 Affiliate Member

• Washington state is fiscal agent

• WestEd provides project management services

A State-led Assessment Consortium:Test Development

• Future affiliation with the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, & Student Testing (CRESST) at UCLA

A State-led Assessment Consortium:Sustainability for 2014-15 and Beyond

Major Milestones in Development of Summative Assessments

Cognitive Labs Apr –

Aug 2012

Small Scale

Trials Mar –

Nov 2012

PilotFeb – 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

Pilot Testing

• Began February 20; ends May 24• Sample of about 10% of students in Consortium

Recruited 1 million students in 5,000+ schools• Purpose: Evaluate the efficacy of our first 5,000 items &

tasks… Do our Performance Tasks that involve real-world

problem-solving work well? Can we computer-score open-ended questions? Can students use the online tools? Have we avoided bias in our items/tasks? How well are we measuring grade-to-grade

growth?• Practice Test available May 2013

Field Testing

• Begins March 2014; ends June 2014• Sample of about 25% of students in Consortium

2.5 million students in selected schools• Purpose: Evaluate items and tasks to establish the

Smarter Balanced pool… Statistical data analysis of 44,000+ items Separate items/tasks into secure (summative) pool

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

levels (“cut scores”)• States & USED developing ways to avoid double testing

Technology Requirements: Responding to School Needs

• Standards have been established 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

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

• Practice test with full array of tools and features available starting in May 2013

Educator Recruitment:Test Development Activities

• Pilot scoring – Range finding May 14-28

• Pilot data review May 23 – June 6

• Field Test item writing May16-30

• Field Test passage review May23 – June 6

• Committees – Content;Bias & Sensitivity; Accessibility June 14 – July 17

Point of Contact: State’s “Teacher Involvement Coordinator”

Educator Recruitment:Design of Formative and PD Tools

• State Leadership Teams (SLT) recruited and selected (8-12 per state) Apr 6-May 17

• State Network of Educators (SNE)members recruited and selected(avg. of 100 per state) May 5-June6

Point of Contact: State’s “State Leadership Team” Lead

Learn More and Stay Engaged

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