Smarter BalancedAssessment Consortium

State Technology: Readiness for

Testing

A New Testing Paradigm South Carolina is a member of the

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC).

The consortium will offer tests in Grades 3-8 and 11 English and mathematics, assessing the Common Core curriculum.

After field-testing in 2014, operational testing will begin in Spring, 2015.

Testing Paradigm (cont’d) Initially, Smarter Balanced assessments

will be available in either online or paper-and-pencil formats.

By 2018, the assessments will only be delivered online, in computer-adaptive (CAT) format.

States, districts, and schools need to be aware of the minimum technology requirements to accomplish this type of testing and how their organization measures up to those requirements.

Technology Requirements

The Smarter Balanced Technology Strategy Framework and System Requirements Specifications provide minimum hardware specifications and basic bandwidth calculations that will allow schools and districts to evaluate their network capability and which of their existing computers will support the administration of the SBAC online assessment in the 2014-15 school year.

Technology Requirements (cont’d)

The framework and specifications were developed with input and feedback from Smarter Balanced member states, work groups, and data from the Technology Readiness Tool (TRT), an online inventory of technology resources launched in 2012, which is administered by Pearson.

Technology Readiness Tool (TRT)

The TRT consists of online survey software that assesses current capacity in four areas and compares that to the technology that will be needed to administer the new online assessments. Those areas are:1. Computers & other devices2. Ratio of devices to test-takers3. Network and infrastructure4. Personnel (staffing & training)

TRT Data Input The survey is organized

hierarchically.• There is a State Readiness Survey Coordinator.

• Districts have a Survey Administrator.

• Schools have Survey Users. Data are input at the school level,

and then can be aggregated at the district and state levels.

Readiness Reports The TRT automatically produces a series of

Readiness Reports for states, districts, and schools; all are available online.

The reports are based on data entered at the school/district level.

The reports are now revised hourly as data are updated.

Data can be downloaded as .csv files and used to produce customized reports at the state or local level.

Readiness Reports (cont’d)

Device Indicators • Results show the percentage of devices that

meet requirements Device to Test-Taker Indicators

• Results show the percentage of students who can be tested with available devices in the available time

Network Indicators • Results show the percentage of bandwidth

currently available to test the maximum number of simultaneous test-takers

Staff & Personnel Report • Results show concerns about staff and

personnel readiness

Readiness Reports (cont’d)

Overall Readiness Indicators • Results show the percent of overall

readiness indicators that meet requirements.

School Exception Report • Results show data for schools that may

have incomplete or missing data Completion Status

• Results show schools that have indicated data are submitted and ready for review and verification

“SNAPSHOTS” Periodically, data are summarized

for the consortium and its various component organizations and reported as a “Snapshot”; a broad picture of readiness at that point in time.

The last one was taken on June 14th.

Another snapshot is scheduled for mid-December.

“SNAPSHOTS” (cont’d) Ideally, TRT data are updated by

schools as file content changes (e.g., new devices are added, software is upgraded, bandwidth is expanded, etc.)

It is desirable for the data to be as up-to-date as possible for the snapshots.

That is particularly true of the mid-December snapshot, as policy decisions are likely to be made at that time.

Local Data Access The district administrator can

grant access to district and school personnel as needed to enter, edit, or review data.

If you would like to review the data for your district (at the district or school level), this is the person you should see.

Readiness Considerations1. District/school infrastructure2. Number/capability of district/school

technical personnel3. Number of devices meeting SBAC

requirements4. Number of test sessions required

(i.e., four times the number of students enrolled in tested grades)

5. Length of the testing window (i.e., how many days of testing?)

6. Number of sessions per day

Overall Readiness Results

Category% MeetingMinimum

Requirements

% MeetingRecommended Requirements

DeviceIndicators(% of Devices)

65 33

Devices to Test-TakerIndicators(% of Students)

62 41

NetworkIndicators(% of Students)

50 50

Source: Technology Readiness Tool website; data as of 8/30/13

Network Readiness% of Students that Can Be

Tested in WindowNumber of Districts*

0 to 25† 37

26 to 50 3

51 to 75 5

76 to 100 44Source: Technology Readiness Tool website; data as of 8/30/13

† Includes organizations with missing data

* The TRT website shows SC with 89 districts(aka “Parent Organizations,” including special cases such as Palmetto Unified and DJJ

Device to Test-Taker Results One Test Session on each Computer, each Day

Number of Testing Weeks

Percent of Schools Ready – Minimum

Requirements

Percent of Schools Ready –

Recommended Requirements

3 53.0 30.3

4 61.4 36.6

5 66.6 41.4

6 69.7 45.3

7 72.2 48.6

8 74.0 50.4• Ready: The school has a sufficient number of satisfactory computers to administer Smarter Balanced tests to all students online.• Session: A student taking either an ELA or mathematics test. Each student will need four sessions (two for ELA and two for mathematics).• Source: Technology Readiness Tool website; data as of 8/30/13.

Device to Test-Taker ResultsTwo Test Sessions on each Computer, each Day

Number of Testing Weeks

Percent of Schools Ready – Minimum

Requirements

Percent of Schools Ready –

Recommended Requirements

3 69.7 45.3

4 74.0 50.4

5 75.9 53.5

6 76.9 55.4

7 77.2 56.4

8 77.4 57.1• Ready: The school has a sufficient number of satisfactory computers to administer Smarter Balanced tests to all students online.• Session: A student taking either an ELA or mathematics test. Each student will need four sessions (two for ELA and two for mathematics).• Source: Technology Readiness Tool website; data as of 8/30/13.

Online Resources Information about technology

requirements for the Smarter Balanced consortium tests can be found on their website at: http://www.smarterbalanced.org/smarter-balanced-assessments/technology/.

Anyone can access this website, although some content is password-restricted.

Online Resources (cont’d)

The TRT can be accessed at www.techreadiness.net

This site requires a username and password (available from your district readiness administrator).

Directions and guides are available on the site, in particular, the “Understanding & Interpreting Reports Guide”.

Questions?Joe Saunders

State Readiness Survey CoordinatorOffice of Assessment

jsaunder@ed.sc.gov

803-737-4275