Smarter Balanced Assessments

April 15, 2014

Objectives

• Understand rationale for implementing new assessment

• Understand the history and development of Smarter Balanced Assessments

• Share key activities in implementation plan

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Strategic Goals

1.1 Each student graduates from high school ready for college and career with 21st century skills.

1.5 Each school and the district meet or exceed federal and state performance requirements.

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Overview

• History and development of Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC)

• Components of SBAC• Comparison to current

assessments• Implementation

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History of SBAC• Race to the Top (RTT) Grants

– Awarded to SBAC and Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers (PARCC)

– To develop valid, reliable and fair assessment system

– Aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in math and English/ language arts (ELA)

– Ensuring students graduate high school college and career ready

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History of SBAC• Washington state joined SBAC in

2010 with 22 other states and one territory

• Lead Procurement State overseeing all procurement for SBAC

• Governing State– Full commitment to SBAC– Vote on policy decisions– Participate in work groups and guide

development6

Development of SBAC

• SBAC items developed by educators, specialists and assessment administrators from member states

• Extensive Process:– Cognitive labs– Small scale trials– Pilot test– Field test

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Components of SBAC• System of formative, interim and

summative assessments– Improve teaching and learning– Provide timely and meaningful

feedback– Guide instruction– Inform students, parents and staff on

progress toward learning targets, graduation and college and career readiness

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Improving Teaching & Learning

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

Summative:College and career

readiness assessments for

accountability

Interim:Flexible and open

assessments, used for actionable

feedback

Formative resources:Educator resources for formative assessment 

practicesto improve instruction

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Balanced Assessment

•Coverage of full breadth/depth of Common Core•Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT)

• Precise assessment of all students• More engaging assessment experience

•Performance Tasks – real world problems

Summative Assessments for

Accountability

•Optional for district, school or classroom use•Fully aligned with Common Core – same item pool•Focus on set of standards or mirror summative test•Teachers can review and score responses

Interim Assessments to

Signal Improvement

•Digital library gives access to high-quality resources •Tools/materials for classroom-based assessments•Professional social networking (Web-based PLCs)•Useful for in-service and pre-service development

Formative Tools and Resources for

Improved Instruction

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Digital Library Basics, 2‐26‐14

Formative Resources in the Digital Library

* Resources include the following file types: Video, HTML5, Audio, PPT, Excel, Word, and PDF.

• Commissioned professional development modules• Resources for students and families

• Frame formative assessment within a balanced assessment system• Articulate the formative assessment process• Highlight formative assessment practices and tools

• Commissioned professional development modules• Instructional materials for educators • Instructional materials for students

• Demonstrate/support effective implementation of the formative process• Focus on key content and practice from the Common Core State

Standards for Mathematics and English Language Arts

• High-quality vetted instructional resources and tools for educators• High-quality vetted resources and tools for students and families

• Reflect and support the formative process• Reflect and support the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics

and English Language Arts• Create Professional Learning Communities

Assessment Literacy Modules

Exemplar Instructional Modules

Education Resources

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Interim Assessment Components

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Interim Assessment

Interim Comprehensive Assessment (ICA)

Interim Assessment Blocks (IAB)

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ICA Examples

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• Mid-year, a teacher might want to know how students are doing in preparation for the summative test, to better know what areas to focus more efforts/attention on.

• Beginning of the year, students entered a class from another state, and the teacher did not have data for them. A teacher decides to give these students the previous year’s ICA to complete the data for the class.

IAB Examples

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• A teacher is providing focused instruction on opinion in grades 3-5 writing (argumentative in the higher grades). Teacher could use a block focused on opinion writing to determine degree of students’ understanding before or after the instruction.

• An 8th grade math team of teachers wants to be informed about how their students are doing in geometry after the unit.

Summative Assessment Components

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Summative Assessment

Computer Adaptive Test (CAT)

Performance Taskwith Classroom Activity

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Computer Adaptive Test (CAT)

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• Student response determines the difficulty of the next question

• More accurate assessment of student’s knowledge and skills

• More efficient as less questions are needed to pinpoint student’s achievement level

• More secure testing environment as questions are tailored to each learner from a large test bank

Performance Task

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• Extended activities measuring the ability to integrate knowledge and skills across multiple standards

• Measure depth of understanding, research skills, and complex analysis

• Foundation of the college and career readiness measure

• Preceded by classroom activity

Classroom Activity

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• Precedes a performance task• Increases basic understanding of

performance task topic• May include research, video,

readings or simulation• May include collaboration with

partners, small group or whole class

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Comparison to Current Assessments

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Reading (ends 2013-14)

Writing (ends 2013-14)

English/LA(begins 2014-15)

Math(ends 2013-14)

Math(begin 2014-15)

Science(no change)

Grade 3 MSP SBAC MSP SBACGrade 4 MSP MSP SBAC MSP SBAC

Grade 5 MSP SBAC MSP SBACMSP

(online)

Grade 6 MSP SBAC MSP SBACGrade 7 MSP MSP SBAC MSP SBAC

Grade 8 MSP SBAC MSP SBACMSP

(online)

Grade 10(or below for EOC)(until Class of 2019) HSPE HSPE

ComprehensiveELA online exit exam

Year 1/Year 2EOC

Math 1/Math 2CCSS online EOC exit exam

Biology EOC (until

NGSS)

Grade 11AMO

SBAC - College and Career Ready

SBAC - College and Career Ready

Grade 4

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MSP SBAC

*Can be used to meet content area assessment graduation requirement**Session times calculated using SBAC maximum ranges from the timing and sequencing resource for each testing portion***Scores and participation rate used to meet Federal AMO requirements

Grade 6 & 8

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MSP SBAC

*Can be used to meet content area assessment graduation requirement**Session times calculated using SBAC maximum ranges from the timing and sequencing resource for each testing portion***Scores and participation rate used to meet Federal AMO requirements

Grade 11

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SBAC

*Can be used to meet content area assessment graduation requirement**Session times calculated using SBAC maximum ranges from the timing and sequencing resource for each testing portion***Scores and participation rate used to meet Federal AMO requirements

Substantive Differences

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• Shift in standards requires shift in assessments

• Common Core Standards – Higher level of rigor and cognitive

demand– Requires application of content

knowledge and skills through higher order-thinking skills

– Aligned with college and career readiness expectations

Grade 4 Sample – Math MSP

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Grade 4 Sample – Math SBAC

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Grade 7 Sample – Reading MSP

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Grade 7 Sample –English/Language Arts SBAC

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Grade 10 Sample – Math EOC1

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Grade 10 – Math SBAC

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Grade 5 – Performance Task SBAC

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Grade 5 SBAC – Performance Task

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Grade 11– Performance Task SBAC

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Implementation• SBAC Leadership Team:

– Assessment and Information Systems Teams– Weekly meetings– Developing work plan and timeline

• Logistics• Technology solutions• Budget• Training plan for staff• Student learning modules

– Partnership with Edmonds SD to observe pilot• Steering committee:

– Building and department staff– Guide implementation and provide feedback– Balance of grade levels, area, schools, and staff roles

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Summary• Assessment system

– Fair, valid, reliable measure of CCSS acquisition and progress toward college and career readiness

– Composed of interim, formative and summative assessments

– Summative assessment includes online CAT and performance tasks

• Preparing in earnest to give our students the best opportunity to demonstrate their learning

• SBAC full implementation in spring of 2015

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Questions?

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