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Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium
(SBAC) is a state-led consortium developing assessments aligned to the Common
Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts/literacy and mathematics.
CCSS are designed to help prepare all students to graduate from high school
ready for college and career.
How Smarter Balanced will be integrated into our state assessment system is not yet finalized. To receive updates as they become available, please sign up for OSPI's monthly e-newsletter TEACH.
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OSPI is looking for qualified K–12 educators, administrators, and higher education faculty to join Washington’s State Network of Educators and help inform the design and development of the Smarter Balanced Digital Library. Learn more about this exciting opportunity
OSPI is looking for qualified educators to assist in the development of assessments to accompany the Common Core State Standards. Educators selected from Washington will work with educators from each of the 17 Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium’s Governing states. Learn more about this exciting opportunity
As Washington state transitions to CCSS, our assessments will change. In 2012-13 and 2013-14, the current state tests will remain the same: Students in grades 3-8 take the Measurements of Student Progress (MSP) and 10th-grade students take the High School Proficiency Exam (HSPE) and End-of-Course (EOC) exams for federal and state accountability, and as graduation requirements. The new Smarter Balanced tests will replace the math, reading and writing portions of the MSP in 2014-15. In high school, the Smarter Balanced tests are administered in 11th grade.
Washington is an active participant in the consortium that is designing the
Smarter Balanced tests. This gives us an opportunity to participate in pilot and
field testing.
These activities will be in addition to the MSP/HSPE/and EOCs, which are
required for accountability and/or high school graduation.
Some schools have been selected to participate in a Scientific Sample for
Pilot Testing. (List of schools that have agreed to participate in the
Scientific Pilot: XLSX or
PDF).
Due to the overwhelming demand for access to the Volunteer Pilot assessment,
Smarter Balanced has decided to release a "Practice Test"
in lieu of the
Volunteer Pilot assessment.
The change from a Volunteer Pilot to Practice Test does not impact the Scientific Pilot. Schools signed up for the Scientific Pilot will test as scheduled.
The online Practice Test will be available to everyone. It will not require a unique username and password, and advanced registration is not necessary. Schools and districts can use the Practice Test for professional development activities. And it can be used for discussions with parents, policymakers, and anyone else who is interested in seeing what Smarter Balanced is all about.
Originally, schools that had signed up to participate in the Volunteer Pilot were to have access to it starting on
April 9. The change from Volunteer Pilot to Practice Test will delay the availability of the test. The Practice Test will be available beginning Wednesday,
May 29.
We understand that for many schools, this later start date may be too close to (or, in some cases, after) the end of the school year. However, we hope the benefits outlined below, including the fact that the Practice Test will remain open throughout the summer and into next school year, will mitigate the delay.
The practice test will provide:
- administrators and parents access to items planned and designed for the new assessment;
- students access to the tests over the summer, with the Practice Test being accessible right up to rollout of the operational assessment;
- a full array of item types including performance tasks;
- versions supporting several accommodations:
- Text-to-speech
- Item-level pop-up Spanish glossaries for
construct irrelevant terms (Math tests only)
- Braille
- American Sign Language (ASL)
NOTE - Accommodated forms will be released in
phases across the listed grade/content
combinations:
- Phase 1 – May 29:
Accommodations available in
grades 3, 7, 11 for Math and in
grades 4, 7, and 11 for ELA; no
ASL support for any grades
- Phase 2 – {TBD, based on
vendor production capacity}:
Accommodations in all grades for
both content areas; no ASL
support for any grades
- Phase 3 – {TBD, based on
vendor production capacity}: ASL
accommodation in all grades and
content areas
Field testing will take place in 2013-14.
Questions should be sent to robin.munson@k12.wa.us.
To prepare for the pilot testing this spring, SBAC released several sample items that show examples of how CCSS will be realized within the Smarter Balanced assessment system. Information about the tasks navigating the Smarter Balanced website, and a list of frequently asked questions are available.
Quick Links:
If you have questions about Smarter Balanced specific to Washington state, please contact Kristen Jaudon.
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