Briefing on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium

1. Briefing on the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium Joe Willhoft Executive Director ACTE Vision2013 Las Vegas, NV Dec. 7, 2013

2. Smarter Balanced Assessment System Overview

3. “Not just another test”…Smarter Balanced is being built by states for states • Preparing students for a changing world 1 • Connecting learning to life after high school – career or college 2 • Providing meaningful information to guide student growth 3 • Supporting teachers with a practical suite of resources 4 • Keeping educators in the driver’s seat 5 2

4. A State-led Assessment Consortium 26 member states and territories representing 39% of K-12 students 23 Governing States, 2 Advisory States, 1 Affiliate Member Washington state is fiscal agent WestEd provides project management services 3

5. A State-led Assessment Consortium:Sustainability for 2014-15 and Beyond Future affiliation with the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA 4

6. Improving Teaching & Learning Summative: College and career readiness assessments for accountability Teachers and schools have information and tools they need to improve teaching and learning All students leave high school college and career ready Common Core State Standards specify K-12 expectations for college and career readiness Formative resources: Supporting classroom-based assessments to improve instruction Interim: Flexible and open assessments, used for actionable feedback 5

7. Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) Portion Meaningful, Useful Reporting • High School: Readiness for credit-earning coursework • Benchmarked to NAEP, PISA, other measures • Responsive turnaround time on reports • Built on solid technology • Coverage of full breadth/depth of Common Core • Precise assessment of all students ✔ Summative Assessments for Accountability Performance Task (PT) Portion • Deeper learning with thematic and scenario-based tasks • Real-world problems aligned to Common Core • PT and CAT scores are combined for an overall score 6

8. Flexible and Open Supports Proficiency Based Instruction • Matching assessments with scope and sequence • Teachers can review student responses • Teachers can score student responses • Non-Secure • Flexible timing and frequency • Menu-driven, user-designed assessments Interim Assessmentsto Signal Improvement Authentic Measures • Includes full range of item types • On the same scale as the Summative Assessment • Includes performance assessments ✔ 7

9. Improving Instruction • Tools/materials for Classroom-based Assessments • Fully aligned to Common Core State Standards • Tools to evaluate publishers’ tests Formative Toolsfor Classroom- Based Assessment Practices Pooling Resources • Consortium-wide access to high-quality resources • Across-state collaboration on special projects • Professional social networking (Web-based PLCs) • Useful for in-service and pre-service development ✔ 8

10. A Balanced Assessment System English Language Arts/Literacy 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; Teacher collaboration tools; Evaluation of publishers’ assessments. Optional Interim Assessment Optional Interim Assessment • PERFORMANCE TASKS • ELA/Literacy • Mathematics • COMPUTER ADAPTIVE TESTS • ELA/Literacy • Mathematics 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. 9

11. Individual Score Reports for Grades 3-8 and 11 Overall Claim for Grades 3-8 Student Scores for ELA/Literacy Student Scores for Mathematics Overall ELA/Literacy Score Overall Mathematics Score Reading Concepts & Procedures Writing Problem Solving/Modeling & Data Analysis Listening Communicating Reasoning Research/Inquiry 10

12. Smarter Balanced Uses and Purposes of the Assessments

13. Purposes and Users for the Summative Assessments 12

14. College Content Readiness at Gr. 11 ELA Students who perform at the College Content-Ready level in English language arts/literacy demonstrate reading, writing, listening, and research skills necessary for introductory courses in a variety of disciplines. They also demonstrate subject-area knowledge and skills associated with readiness for entry-level, transferable, credit bearing English and composition courses. MATHEMATICS Students who perform at the College Content-Ready level in mathematics demonstrate foundational mathematical knowledge and quantitative reasoning skills necessary for introductory courses in a variety of disciplines. They also demonstrate subject-area knowledge and skills associated with readiness for entry-level, transferable, credit-bearing mathematics and statistics courses. 13

15. Career Readiness Task Force: Charge Approved by Executive Committee Review available models Develop recommendations that describe performance on Smarter Balanced assessments in relation to academic readiness for postsecondary career education and training Recommendations will be revised based on feedback from member states, the Technical Advisory Committee, and the general public prior to a vote by Governing States.

16. Task Force Composition 15 members. Representatives from K-12, higher education, and the business community. Individuals with expertise in career and technical education. Additional experts will be invited to advise the task force.

17. Task Force Roster

18. Defining Career Readiness Recognition that “college ready” and “career ready” are not equivalent. Few if any “career” occupations (that pay a family-sustaining wage and offer avenues for advancement) can be entered without some amount of postsecondary education and training. Career readiness is a multi-faceted construct that includes a continuum of academic preparation for a wide array of postsecondary career education and training options. Acknowledgement that Smarter Balanced can only address academic readiness in English and math for further education and training (could range from short-term on the job training to graduate education, depending on occupation a student chooses to pursue).

19. Problem: Describing the Link between Smarter Balanced Assessments and Career Readiness Solution: Career Readiness Frameworks • Frameworks illustrate for exemplar occupations within 16 Career Clusters the types of further education and training that students at each Smarter Balanced achievement level would be currently qualified to pursue (and–by showing all the levels–the broader set of postsecondary options that become available as performance improves).    • States could choose to use frameworks as-is or to adjust them based on the high-demand fields in their economy, the way they have organized career fields within their own CTE curricula, local career requirements or other factors.  • Recommend that states establish a group composed of representatives from K-12, higher education, business and industry, and labor to review and customize the framework.     • The customized state framework could be linked to student score reports, state career exploration and planning resources, O*Net career information, and postsecondary programs.    

20. Additional Recommendations • The primary purpose of the frameworks is to provide students and parents with information to help them interpret the meaning of student scores.  • The Task Force drafted language to help users understand the utility and limits of the information provided.  These statements address the following topics: • Nature and limitations of the framework and occupation exemplars. • Description of broader career readiness construct and need for multiple measures to understand the extent to which students are “career ready.” • Reminder that Smarter Balanced only measures English and math knowledge and skills as defined by Common Core. • Reminder to students and parents that scores represent performance at a particular point in time and that advancement is always possible. • To facilitate student career planning while avoiding the appearance of tracking, the Task Force recommends that information on postsecondary career options should only be displayed at Grade 8 and in high school.

21. Next Steps

22. Smarter Balanced Getting Ready for the Tests

23. Major Milestones in Development of Summative Assessments ✔ ✔ ✔ Full system run-through; Establish performance standards; some results Early Q.C. of items & software; no student results 22

24. 2014 Field Testing • March - June 2014 • Sampling about 20% of students in Consortium • Purpose: Evaluate items and tasks for Smarter Balanced pool… • Statistical data analysis of 20,000+ items • Divide items/tasks into secure (summative) pool and open (interim) pool • Conduct standard setting for different performance levels (“cut scores”) • US Dept. of Ed flexibility to avoid double testing 23

25. Estimated Testing Times for 2014 Field Test and 2015 Operational Assessment Times are estimates of test length for most students. Smarter Balanced assessments are designed as untimed tests; some students may need and should be afforded more time than shown in this table.

26. Technology Requirements: Responding to School Needs • Smarter states have established standards 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 • Smarter Balanced Readiness Calculator at: http://www3.cde.ca.gov/sbactechcalc/ • Pencil-and-paper option available for three-year transition period

27. Guidelines for NEW TechnologyIs Posted on Website (v1.0 Apr. 2012) Desktops, laptops, netbooks (Windows, Mac, Chrome, Linux), thin client, and tablets (iPad, Windows, and Android) will be compatible devices provided they are configured to meet the established hardware, operating system, and networking specifications -- and are able to be “locked down”. 26

28. Accessibility & Accommodations 27

29. Accessibility & Accommodations (from S.B. Guidelines) 28

30. Setting Performance Standards • Setting standards for four Performance Levels at each grade • September 2014, using Field Test data • Grade-level panels of 30 per content area recommend cut scores • At least two representatives from each Governing State on each grade level panel • Concurrent “crowd-sourced” recommendations from the field • Recommendations presented to chiefs for approval in late September 2014

31. Take a Peek Under the Hood…The Smarter Balanced Practice Test http://www.smarterbalanced.org/practice-test Shows item types and tools/features Now available; Released May 29 Expanded features being released over the summer/fall 30

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