Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia

1. Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia Sue Gendron Policy Coordinator South Carolina Assessment Conference November 12, 2012

2. Common Core State Standards Source: www.corestandards.org Define the knowledge and skills students need for college and career Developed voluntarily and cooperatively by states; more than 40 states have adopted Provide clear, consistent standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics

3. The Assessment Challenge ...to here? Common Core State Standards specify K-12 expectations for college and career readiness All studentsleave high school college and career ready ...and what can an assessment system do to help? How do we get from here...

4. Next Generation Assessments The U.S. Department of Education has funded two consortia of states with development grants for new assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards Source: Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 68 / Friday, April 9, 2010 pp. 18171-85 Rigorous assessment of progress toward “college and career readiness” Common cut scoresacross all Consortium states Provide both achievement and growth information Valid, reliable, and fair for all students, except those with “significant cognitive disabilities” Administer online Use multiple measures Operational in 2014-15 school year

5. Smarter Balanced Background

6. The Purpose of the Consortium • To develop a comprehensive and innovative assessment system for grades 3-8 and high school in English language arts and mathematics aligned to the Common Core State Standards, so that... • ...students leave high schoolprepared for postsecondary success in college or a career through increased student learning and improved teaching [The assessments shall be operationalacross Consortium states in the 2014-15 school year]

7. A National Consortium of States 25 states representing 40% of K-12 students 21 governing, 4advisory states Washington state is fiscal agent WestEd provides project management services

8. State Led Committed to Transparency

9. Accessibility and Accommodations Work group engagement of 110 state-level staff: Consortium Work Groups Formative Assessment Practices and Professional Learning Item Development • Each work group: • Led by co-chairs from governing states • 8 or more members from advisory or governing states, including 2 higher education representatives • 1 liaison from the Executive Committee • 1 WestEd partner 1 Performance Tasks 2 Work group responsibilities: Reporting 3 Technology Approach • Define scope and time line for work in its area • Develop a work plan and resource requirements • Determine and monitor the allocated budget • Oversee Consortium work in its area, including identification and direction of vendors 4 Test Administration 5 Test Design 6 Transition to Common Core State Standards 7 Validation and Psychometrics 8 9 10

10. Decision Making

11. Smarter Balanced Approach

12. Theory of Action Built on Seven Key Principles An integrated system Evidence-based approach Teacher involvement State-led with transparent governance Focus: improving teaching and learning Actionable information – multiple measures Established professional standards

13. Increased precision • Provides accurate measurements of student growth over time Using Computer Adaptive Technology for Summative and Interim Assessments Tailored for Each Student • Item difficulty based on student responses Increased Security • Larger item banks mean that not all students receive the same questions Shorter Test Length • Fewer questions compared to fixed form tests Faster Results • Turnaround time is significantly reduced Mature Technology • GMAT, GRE, COMPASS (ACT), Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)

14. A Balanced Assessment System Summative assessments Benchmarked to college and career readiness Teachers and schools have information and tools they need to improve teaching and learning Common Core State Standards specify K-12 expectations for college and career readiness All students leave high school college and career ready Teacher resources for formative assessment practices to improve instruction Interim assessments Flexible, open, used for actionable feedback

15. Summative Assessment (Computer Adaptive) Assessment System Components • Assesses the full range of Common Core in English language arts and mathematics for students in grades 3–8 and 11 (interim assessments can be used in grades 9 and 10) • Measurescurrent student achievement and growth across time, showing progress toward college and career readiness • Can be given once or twice a year (mandatory testing window within the last 12 weeks of the instructional year) • Includes a variety of question types: selected response, short constructed response, extended constructed response, technology enhanced, and performance tasks

16. Six Item Types • Selected Response • Constructed Response • Extended Response • Performance Tasks • Technology-Enabled • Technology-Enhanced

17. Selected ResponseSingle Response – Multiple Choice Many experts will tell you that television is bad for you. Yet this is an exaggeration. Many television programs today are specifically geared towards improving physical fitness, making people smarter, or teaching them important things about the world. The days of limited programming with little interaction are gone. Public television and other stations have shows about science, history, and technical topics. Which sentence should be added to the paragraph to state the author’s main claim? A. Watching television makes a person healthy. B. Watching television can be a sign of intelligence. C. Television can be a positive influence on people. D. Television has more varied programs than ever before.

18. Selected ResponseMultiple Correct Options Which of the following statements is a property of a rectangle? Select all that apply. ☐ Contains three sides ☐ Contains four sides ☐ Contains eight sides ☐ Contains two sets of parallel lines ☐ Contains at least one interior angle that is acute ☐ Contains at least one interior angle that is obtuse ☐ All interior angles are right angles ☐ All sides have the same length ☐ All sides are of different length

19. Constructed Response The table below shows the number of students in each third-grade class at Lincoln School. There are 105 fourth-grade students at Lincoln School. How many more fourth-grade students than third-grade students are at Lincoln School? Show or explain how you found your answer.

20. Constructed ResponseExtended Response Pen 1: Length: (feet, square feet) Width: (feet, square feet) Area: (feet, square feet) Pen 2: Length: (feet, square feet) Width: (feet, square feet) Area: (feet, square feet) • Ms. McCrary wants to make a rabbit pen in a section of her lawn. Her plan for the rabbit pen includes the following: • It will be in the shape of a rectangle. • It will take 24 feet of fence material to make. • Each side will be longer than 1 foot. • The length and width will measure whole feet. Pen 3: Length: (feet, square feet) Width: (feet, square feet) Area: (feet, square feet) Part A Draw 3 different rectangles that can each represent Ms. McCrary’s rabbit pen. Be sure to use all 24 feet of fence material for each pen. Use the grid below. Click the places where you want the corners of your rectangle to be. Draw one rectangle at a time. If you make a mistake, click on your rectangle to delete it. Continue as many times as necessary. • Part B • Ms. McCrary wants her rabbit to have more than 60 square feet of ground area inside the pen. She finds that if she uses the side of her house as one of the sides of the rabbit pen, she can make the rabbit pen larger. • Draw another rectangular rabbit pen. • Use all 24 feet of fencing for 3 sides of the pen. • Use one side of the house for the other side of the pen. • Make sure the ground area inside the pen is greater than 60 square feet. • Use the grid below. Click the places where you want the corners of your rectangle to be. If you make a mistake, click on your rectangle to delete it. Use your keyboard to type the length and width of each rabbit pen you draw. Then type the area of each rabbit pen. Be sure to select the correct unit for each answer. [Students will input length, width, and area for each rabbit pen. Students will choose unit from drop down menu.] Use your keyboard to type the length and width of each rabbit pen you draw. Then type the area of each rabbit pen. Be sure to select the correct unit for each answer. Length: (feet, square feet) Width: (feet, square feet) Area: (feet, square feet)

21. Performance Task • Student Directions: • Part 1 (35 minutes) • Your assignment: • You will read a short story and article, watch a video, review research statistics, and then write an argumentative essay about your opinion on virtual schools. • Steps you will be following: • In order to plan and compose your essay, you will do all of the following: • Read a short story and article, watch a video, and review research statistics. • Answer three questions about the sources. • Plan and write your essay. • Directions for beginning: • You will now read the sources and watch a video. Take notes, because you may want to refer back to your notes while writing your essay. You can refer back to any of the sources as often as you like. • (short story) • (article 1) • (video) • (research statistics) • Questions • Use your remaining time to answer the questions below. Your answers to these questions will be scored. Also, they will help you think about the sources you’ve read and viewed, which should help you write your essay. You may click on the appropriate buttons to refer back to the sources when you think it would be helpful. You may also refer to your notes. Answer the questions in the spaces provided below them. • Analyze the different opinions expressed in “The Fun They Had” and the “Virtual High School Interview” video. Use details from the story and the video to support your answer. • What do the statistics from “Keeping Pace with K–12 Online Learning” suggest about the current trends of virtual schools in the U.S.? Use details from the charts to support your answer. • Explain how the information presented in the “Virtual High School Interview” video and the article “Virtual Schools Not for Everyone” differs from the information in the research statistics? Support your answers with details from the video and the articles. • Part 2 (85 minutes) • You will now have 85 minutes to review your notes and sources, and to plan, draft, and revise your essay. You may also refer to the answers you wrote to the questions in part 1, but you cannot change those answers. Now read your assignment and the information about how your essay will be scored, then begin your work. • Your Assignment • Your parents are considering having you attend a virtual high school. Write an argumentative essay explaining why you agree or disagree with this idea. Support your claim with evidence from what you have read and viewed.

22. Technology-Enabled Selected or Constructed Responses that include Multimedia Brianna is running for class president. She needs to give a speech to the 4th grade class. Listen to the draft of her speech and then answer the questions that follow. (Test-takers listen to an audio version of the following speech.) “Hi, My name is Brianna. I am running for class president, and I hope you will vote for me. You know many of my friends said they would. I am involved in many activities, including track and theater. If I am elected, I will hold several fundraisers so that all students in the 4th grade can go on a trip at the end of the year. Also, we can donate a portion of the money to a charity of our choice. If you want a class president who will work hard for you and listen to your needs, please vote for me next week!” This speech needs to be revised before the student presents it. Which sentence should be omitted to improve the speech. A. I am running for class president, and I hope you will vote for me. B. You know many of my friends said they would. C. If I am elected, I will hold several fundraisers so that all students in the 4th grade can go on a trip at the end of the year. D. If you want a class president who will work hard for you and listen to your needs, please vote for me next week!”

23. Technology-Enhanced Collects Evidence through a Non-Traditional Response Below is a poem, a sonnet, in which the speaker discusses her feelings about a relationship. Read the poem and answer the question that follows. Remember by Christina Rossetti Remember me when I am gone away,          Gone far away into the silent land;          When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. Remember me when no more day by day 5          You tell me of our future that you plann'd:          Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray. Yet if you should forget me for a while          And afterwards remember, do not grieve: 10          For if the darkness and corruption leave          A vestige* of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile          Than that you should remember and be sad.   In the sonnet “Remember,” which two lines reveals a change in the speaker’s message to her subject?

24. Technology-Enhanced Collects Evidence through a Non-Traditional Response The value of y is proportional the the value of x. The constant of proportionality for this relationship is 1. On the grid below, graph this proportional relationship.

25. Interim Assessment (Computer Adaptive) Assessment System Components • Optional comprehensive and content-cluster assessment to help identify specific needs of each student • Can be administered throughout the year • Provides clear examples of expected performance on Common Core standards • Includes a variety of question types:selected response, short constructed response, extended constructed response, technology enhanced, and performance tasks • Aligned to and reported onthe same scale as the summative assessments • Fully accessible for instruction and professional development

26. Performance Tasks Assessment System Components • Extended projects demonstrate real-world writing and analytical skills • May include online research, group projects, presentations • Require 1-2 class periods to complete • Included in both interim and summative assessments • Applicable in all grades being assessed • Evaluated by teachers using consistent scoring rubrics “ The use of performance measures has been found to increase the intellectual challenge in classrooms and to support higher-quality teaching. - Linda Darling-Hammond and Frank Adamson, Stanford University ”

27. Performance Task Guidelines Integrate knowledge and skills across multiple standards or strands Measure capacities such as depth of understanding, research skills, complex analysis, and identification/providing of relevant evidence Require student-initiated planning, management of information and ideas, interaction with other materials

28. Performance Task Guidelines Require production of more extended responses (e.g., oral presentations, exhibitions, product development, in addition to more extended written responses which might be revised and edited Reflect a real-world task and/or scenario-based Allow for multiple approaches Represent content that is relevant and meaningful to students

29. Performance Task Guidelines Allow for multiple points of view and interpretations Require scoring that focuses on the essence of the task Be feasible for the school/classroom environment

30. Performance Task Guidelines Allow for demonstration of important knowledge & skills, including those that address 21st century skills such as critically analyzing, synthesizing media texts

31. Grade 11 ELA Performance TaskNuclear Power: Friend or Foe? Task Overview ( 20 Minutes)

32. Grade 11 ELA Performance TaskNuclear Power: Friend or Foe?

33. Grade 11 ELA Performance TaskNuclear Power: Friend or Foe? Susquehanna Steam Electric Station in Pennsylvania

34. Grade 11 ELA Performance TaskNuclear Power: Friend or Foe? Part 1 (50 minutes) You are chief-of-staff for your local congresswoman in the U.S. House of Representatives. She has called you into her office to outline an urgent project. “I have received advance notice,” she says as you sit down, “that a power company is proposing to build a nuclear plant in the southeastern corner of our state. The plan will be announced to the public tomorrow morning, and citizens and journalists will want to know what my position is on this controversial issue. To be honest, I am not sure how I feel about it. We currently don’t have any nuclear power plants in this state, so I haven’t taken time to consider the issue deeply.” “I need you,” she continues, “to conduct a brief survey of the pros and cons of nuclear power. Summarize what you have learned and report back to me this afternoon.”

35. Grade 11 ELA Performance TaskNuclear Power: Friend or Foe? Part 1 (50 minutes) Students examine and take notes on the stimuli, a series of Internet sources that present both sides of the nuclear debate. Constructed-response questions call upon the students to summarize and evaluate the presented sources.

36. Grade 11 ELA Performance TaskNuclear Power: Friend or Foe?

37. Grade 11 ELA Performance TaskNuclear Power: Friend or Foe?

38. Grade 11 ELA Performance TaskNuclear Power: Friend or Foe? 2. Evaluate the credibility of the arguments and evidence presented by these sources. Which of the sources are more trustworthy and why? Which of the sources warrant some skepticism because of bias or insufficient evidence?

39. Grade 11 ELA Performance TaskNuclear Power: Friend or Foe? Part 2 (70 minutes) Back in the congresswoman’s office, you start to hand her your notes on the pros and cons of nuclear energy, but she waves away your papers. “Some emergency meetings have come up and I don’t have time to review your research notes,” she says. “Instead, go ahead and make a recommendation for our position on this nuclear power plant. Should we support the building of this nuclear plant in our state, or should we oppose the power company’s plan? Be sure that your recommendation acknowledges both sides of the issue so that people know that we have considered the issue carefully. I’ll review your report tonight and use it for the press conference tomorrow morning.”

40. Grade 11 ELA Performance TaskNuclear Power: Friend or Foe? Write an argumentative report that recommends the position that your congresswoman should take on the plan to build a nuclear power plant in your state. Support your claim with evidence from the Internet sources you have read and viewed. You do not need to use all the sources, only the ones that most effectively and credibly support your position and your consideration of the opposing point of view.

41. Grade 11 ELA Performance TaskNuclear Power: Friend or Foe? • Scoring • Statement of purpose – focus and organization • Elaboration of evidence • Conventions

42. Formative Assessment Practices Assessment System Components • Research-based, on-demand tools and resources for teachers • Aligned to Common Core, focused on increasing student learning and enabling differentiation of instruction • Professional developmentmaterials include model units of instruction and publicly released assessment items, formative strategies “ ” Few initiatives are backed by evidence that they raise achievement. Formative assessment is one of the few approaches proven to make a difference. - Stephanie Hirsh, Learning Forward

43. Definition: Assessment that takes place continuously during the course of teaching and learning to provide teachers and students with feedback to close the gap between current learning and desired goals. Assessment Reform Group, 2002; Bell & Cowie, 2001; Black et al., 2003; Black & Wiliam, 1998; OECD, 2005; Sadler, 1989; Shepard, 2000)

44. Advantages of Formative Assessment Students learn faster Teachers know what students already know & adjust instruction Students aware of progress Most powerful moderator in student achievement Works for at risk students

45. Formative Assessment Strategies(Black, Wiliam,1998; Sadler, 1998; Stiggins, 2007;Heritage, 2007) Pre-assessing students Sharing Learning goals with students Co-creating classroom discourse & questioning Rich & challenging tasks elicit student response Identifying gaps

46. Formative Assessment Strategies(Black, Wiliam,1998; Sadler, 1998; Stiggins, 2007;Heritage, 2007) Providing feedback/how to improve Self-assessments Peer- assessments Opportunities to close the gap Celebrations

47. Feedback

48. Grades Supported 8 3 10 9 11 12

49. A Balanced Assessment System English Language Arts and Mathematics, Grades 3-8 and High School School Year Last 12 weeks of the year* DIGITAL CLEARINGHOUSE of formative tools, processes and exemplars; released items and tasks; model curriculum units; educator training; professional development tools and resources; scorer training modules; and teacher collaboration tools. • Summative • Performance Tasks • For Accountability • Reading • Writing • Math Optional Interim Assessment Optional Interim Assessment Summative End Of Year Adaptive Assessment for Accountability Computer Adaptive Assessment and Performance Tasks Computer Adaptive Assessment and Performance Tasks Re-take option Scope, sequence, number and timing of interim assessments locally determined *Time windows may be adjusted based on results from the research agenda and final implementation decisions.

50. Online Reporting Assessment System Components “ • Static and dynamic reports, secure and public views • Individualstates retain jurisdiction over access and appearance of online reports • Dashboard gives parents, students, practitioners, and policymakers access to assessment information • Graphical display of learning progression status (interim assessment) • Feedback and evaluation mechanism provides surveys, open feedback, and vetting of materials ” Data are only useful if people are able to access, understand and use them… For information to be useful, it must be timely, readily available, and easy to understand. - Data Quality Campaign