Transition to Smarter Balanced Assessments in Washington

1. Transition to Smarter Balanced Assessments in Washington ESD 113 March 26, 2013 Robin G. Munson, Ph.D. Asst. Supt., Assessment & Student Information

2. Smarter Balanced – Who and When? • OSPI staff involved in workgroups 2010-2014 • WA teachers involved 2011-2014 • Item and stimulus writing and review • Alignment Study • Achievement Level Descriptors • Populating Digital Library • Pilot test in spring 2013 (5%) • Practice Tests widely available in May 2013 • Comprehensive summative field test in 2013-14 (35%) • State Networks of Educators began vetting resources to populate the library in Fall 2013 • All components of Smarter Balanced operational in 2014-15 • Digital Library “Soft Launch” in late Spring 2014; fully functional Fall 2014 • Interim assessments available late fall 2014 • Summative assessments administered in spring 2015

3. Not your father’s statewide assessment • Aligned with new state standards • Balanced assessment system (summative and interim assessment and formative resources) • Supporting teachers with a practical suite of resources • Broader access to assessment through translations, supports and accommodations • Better measurement through computer adaptive testing and performance tasks • Articulated across grades • Washington teachers are contributing to development • Comparable with other states • Less expensive

4. Current Activities & Timeline • Field test began yesterday • 35% of Wa students participating (~200,000) • 22 states and territories • Delay of one week caused loss of 1% of students, in schools that simply could not reschedule • OSPI is passing along resources and guidance as it is provided – webinar series, communications with District Assessment Coordinators • Consortium and OSPI interested in feedback

5. Why Field Test? Dry Run • Although this is a field test, we must have valid responses to shape our future tests. • Accurate item data will determine difficulty, bias and sensitivity, whether items are kept, and ultimately the cut scores (or what score is needed to meet standard). Field Tests Operational Tests Item Data

6. Administration Window for Next Year • The 2015 summative operational assessment windows/dates are still being discussed… • The complexities include: • Per Smarter Balanced Consortium: • High schools need to test on Smarter Balanced w/in final 7 weeks of school • Grades 3-8 test in final 12 weeks of school • In Washington: • Grade 3 results must be returned in time for principals to meet with parents before the end of the year • High school exit exams need to be scheduled as well (ELA for 10th and EOC in math and biology) - these will be paper/pencil

7. Testing Times for Summative Assessment The testing window is the final 12 weeks of the academic year for grades 3-8and final 7 weeks for HS.

8. Interim Assessment Design Principles • Online administration • Adaptive as appropriate • Adhere to Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines • Items drawn from same pool as Summative • Full array of item types • Hand-scoring • Content appropriate • Scored locally: state or district responsibility • Administered through the same system as Summative • Can be administered at various points in the year • Not intended for accountability decisions

9. Interim Assessment Components

10. Interim Comprehensive Assessments (ICA): Sample Use Cases • Mid-year (e.g., February), 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.

11. Interim Assessment Blocks (IABs) Sample Use Cases • A teacher is providing focused instruction on persuasive writing. Teacher could use a block focused on persuasive writing to determine degree of students’ understanding before or after the instruction. • An 8th grade math team, in a coordinated fashion, want to be informed about how their students are doing in geometry.

12. IABs for ELACurrent Thinking on Coverage *Placeholder until items are developed **”Opinion” is “Argumentative” for grades 6-8 and 11

13. IABs for math Current Thinking on Coverage

14. IABs for math Current Thinking on Coverage

15. Interim Assessments • A letter will soon be sent to districts with schools who are in Priority, Focus or Emerging status: • Smarter Balanced interims will replace Reading Benchmark and Math Benchmark assessments (RBAs and MBAs) • Districts will have local discretion for appropriate interims for grades K-2 (WaKIDS can be used in kindergarten)

16. A Balanced Assessment System Needs a Digital Library 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 Educator resources for formative assessment practices to improve instruction Interim assessments Flexible, open, used for actionable feedback

17. Smarter Balanced Digital Library:Formative Assessment Practices and Professional Learning – educator involvement

18. Digital Library Basics • One Stop: • Accessed through a single sign-on with user permission levels • Educators have access to all of the instructional and professional learning resources for each grade band (Grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12) • There will be resources that educators can share or use with students and families, but students and families will not be able to access materials directly. • It WILL NOT be a “bank” of formative assessment items alone. All resources will have the formative assessment process embedded within them. • All submitted materials will be vetted through a Quality Criteria Review Process by SNEs across the nation. • Each resource will be reviewed and rated by at least 3 SNEs • If they do not meet the quality criteria, resources will not be included in the library • Functionality • The applications uses state-of-the art tagging and search features so that educators will be able to: • Quickly find resources by CCSS, formative assessment process attributes, etc. • View and download resources • Rate resources • Use social networking features to collaborate with other educators across the Consortium by posting questions and sharing their knowledge.

19. Resources in the Digital Library Assessment Literacy Modules • 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 Exemplar Instructional Modules • 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 Education Resources • 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 * Resources include the following file types: Video, HTML5, Audio, PPT, Excel, Word, and PDF.

20. Resources in the Digital Library Assessment Literacy Modules • Not an assessment bank • Not an item bank • Not a learning management system where educators can register for training or receive credit by completing specific online courses • Not a library for general public (will require registration and login) • Not a site where any resource can automatically be posted; all resources must be vetted through the Quality Criteria Exemplar Instructional Modules Education Resources * Resources include the following file types: Video, HTML5, Audio, PPT, Excel, Word, and PDF.

21. Grounded in this Definition of Formative Assessment Process Formative Assessment is a deliberate process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides actionable feedback that is used to adjust ongoing teaching and learning strategies to improve students’ attainment of curricular learning targets/goals. ~ Compiled by the Digital Library National Advisory Panel

22. Recommend with revisions SNE Resource Recommendation Options Do not recommend Recommend with distinction Recommend Recommend with revisions Do not recommend

23. Resource Posting Work Flow Step 1: Resource Submitted Step 2: GatekeepingCriteria Applied Step 3: Quality Criteria Applied Step 4: Decision Posted Cover Profile Sent to SLT SNE 2 SNE 3 SNE 1 SNE 1 Returned to Submitter

24. Scores and reports • Four Achievement Levels • Level 3 indicates College Career Readiness (Gr 11) or Adequate Progress to that goal (Gr 3-8) • Preliminary Achievement Levels (cut scores) set by state schools chiefs in Sept. 2014 • Revisited and revised (as necessary) in 2015 • Washington’s State Board might set different cut scores for fulfilling graduation requirements

25. 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 25

26. What will this cost? • Smarter Balanced tests will cost the state about $30 per student • Includes both ELA and math • Includes digital library and interim assessments • Current Reading, Writing, and Math tests are about $30 per test, or $60-$90 per student • It will cost another $20 per student for state developed exit exams

27. What about privacy of student data? • Each state will have control of student assessment data • Smarter Balanced consortium will not share identifiable records • US Department of Education does not collect individual student records • Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) precludes districts, states, contractors, etc. from disclosing identifiable student data without parent permission – except under specific conditions • National PTA has nice handout on student data privacy

28. Resources For You! • For the latest news and developments on Smarter Balanced in Washington: http://www.k12.wa.us/smarter/default.aspx • Materials for administration, as well as communication templates for parents and community: http://sbac.portal.airast.org/field-test/resources/ • For questions about Smarter Balanced or the assessment system transitions, contact:Assessment@k12.wa.us360-725-6348

29. Happy Field Testing!!!!!