Smarter BalancedAssessment Consortium

(SBAC)

A New Era of Measuring

College and Career Readiness

1

Smarter Balanced – 2014/15 First Year of Implementation

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• A summative evaluation of student achievement – based on Common Core State Standards expectations for College and Career Readiness

• One element of providing teachers with information along with formative assessment and interim assessment to provide actionable feedback to teachers

• SBAC Digital Library provides resources to teachers and school leaders for use in the classroom

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SBAC Achievement Levels

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Achievement levels set through a broad consortium- wide effort.• Initial achievement levels adopted 11/17/2014• Online input from thousands of educators and

community members across the consortium• In-person panel of 500 teachers, school leaders ,

higher education faculty, parents, business and community leaders, educators with English Learners and students with special needs, determined threshold score levels

SBAC Achievement Levels

“The final product of this inclusive, collaborative process will be a set of new achievement levels on the Smarter Balanced assessments. Because Smarter Balanced members have set high expectations for students—and the new tests are designed to assess student performance against these expectations—the definition of grade level performance will be higher than it used to be in many states…..

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SBAC Achievement Levels

“….Initial test results will represent a new baseline that provides a more accurate indicator for educators, students, and parents as they work to meet the rigorous demands of college and career readiness.” SBAC Executive Director Joe Willhoft

http://www.smarterbalanced.org/achievement-levels/

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SBAC Achievement Levels

• 4 achievement levels instead of 5 with CST• Threshold scale scores rise with grade level• New content standards set high expectations for

students – fewer students that were proficient or above on CSTs expected to achieve a 3 or 4 on initial test administration

• SBAC results can NOT be compared to CST results (rather than comparing apples to oranges, this is like comparing apples to toothpicks)

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SBAC Threshold Scale Scores

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• The following line graphs demonstrate the threshold scale scores defining achievement levels set by the online and in-person panel

• Because the threshold scale scores are based on field test results, it is expected that they will be revisited in a couple years

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SBAC- A New Era of Measuring College and Career Readiness 10

Estimating Performance from the Field Test Results

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• The following bar graphs demonstrate the estimated percentage of students at each achievement level based on the field test results.

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Smarter Balanced – What to Expect

• SBAC is vertically calibrated so we can now make valid comparisons across grade levels. With CST’s we could only compare grade spans or single grades over time – for example 4th grade one year to 4th grade the next year

• The following bar graph demonstrates how comparisons between same year/different grade CST’s were not valid (note proficiency fluctuations between grades 2-5 and 7-10)

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Smarter Balanced – What to Expect

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Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10 Grade 110%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

67%61%

75%71% 70% 71%

67% 69%62%

58%

2013 Santa Clara County CST English-Language ArtsPercent of Students Proficient or Above by Grade Level

Smarter Balanced – What to Expect

• California’s CST state standards and proficiency cut scores had been among the highest in the nation as rated by the independent Thomas B. Fordham Institute – rigor is not new to California but the expectations for how students demonstrate deep content knowledge will provide new challenges for students and teachers

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Smarter Balanced – What to Expect

• SBAC is a new testing medium for accountability testing. In addition to the content there will be some adjustments based on the use of technology. Districts should monitor device usage (which type of device is used), feedback regarding test administration and possible differences in results that may be attributable to differing device interface experiences

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Smarter Balanced – What to Expect

• Use the available practice tests and monitor results to inform instruction and also for site and district leaders to have an idea of expected results for the first year

• It is generally expected that the results for the first year will see a drop in students scoring proficient or above (levels 3 and 4) across the consortium as compared to previous accountability testing

• First year results are a baseline • Results are expected to improve over time

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Smarter Balanced – What to Expect

• Track formative and interim data – prepare reports that demonstrate student growth during the year and possible year to year comparisons to provide additional information to inform your parents and align resources in your LCAP

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SBAC Website Links

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• http://www.smarterbalanced.org/• http://www.smarterbalanced.org/achievement-levels/• http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/upl

oads/2011/12/Smarter-Balanced-Overview-Presentation.pdf

• http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Smarter-Balanced-Core-Components.pdf

• http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/EPIC-Reaching-the-Goal-Report.pdf