Smarter Balanced: On Track and Moving Forward

1. Smarter Balanced: On Track and Moving Forward Jacqueline E. King, Ph.D. National Association of State Boards of Education March 11, 2014

2. Agenda • A Quick Refresher on Smarter Balanced • Progress in Developing the Assessment System • Field Test • Setting Performance Standards • Addressing Key Issues: • Technology • Student Privacy • Cost • Sustainability

3. Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium 24 states & territories (22 governing, 1 advisory, 1 affiliate) K-12 & Higher Education Leads in each state

4. About Smarter Balanced

5. 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

6. Assessing the Common Core • Identify • List • Draw • Define • Memorize • Calculate • Illustrate • Who, What, When, Where, Why • Measure • Arrange • Name • Tabulate • Repeat • Match • Design • Recall • Categorize • Recognize • Use • Connect • Infer • Level One • (Recall) • Graph • Organize • Synthesize • Classify • Level Four • Modify • Level Two • (Skill/Concept) • Apply Concepts • Describe Explain Interpret • Smarter Balanced assessments move beyond basic skills and recall to assess higher-order skills such as critical thinking and problem solving • Cause/Effect • (Extended Thinking) • Relate • Critique • Predict • Prove • Compare • Level Three • (Strategic Thinking) • Analyze • Interpret • Estimate • Create • Revise • Assess • Summarize • Develop a Logical Argument • Use Concepts to SolveNon-Routine Problems • Show • Critique • Construct • Compare • Apprise • Investigate • Explain • Formulate • Draw Conclusions • Hypothesize • Differentiate Source: Webb, Norman L. and others, “Web Alignment Tool” 24 July 2005. Wisconsin Center of Educational Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2 Feb 2006 • 6

7. Assessing College Readiness

8. Assessing Career Readiness Career Readiness Task Force developed recommendations and resource materials for score interpretation that are now available for public review at www.smarterbalanced.org Use of materials is voluntary and state customization is encouraged Academic readiness for careers = readiness for further career education and training Students who are not yet ready for entry-level general education courses can be ready for some postsecondary vocational/technical programs, so career-ready and college-ready are not equivalent.

9. Educator Involvement

10. Accessibility & Accommodations Note: Not all features are available for all grades or portions of the assessment. For detailed information, see the Smarter Balanced Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines.

11. Test Development Update

12. Assessment Development Pilot Test: Approximately 650,000 students at more than 5,000 schools Field Test: Expect more than 3 million students at more than 20,000 schools

13. Field Testing: A Practice Run of New Assessments Ensures fair and accurate assessments for all students in spring 2015 Gives teachers and schools chance to practice test administration procedures and gauge tech readiness Gives students opportunity to experience the new assessments No individual or school scores/results will be reported or shared

14. Field Test Facts • Dates: March 18 to June 6 • All 22 Governing States and USVI • At least 3 million students (research sample = 1.9M) • Several states (CA, CT, ID, MT, SD) testing most or all students • More than 20,000 schools in more than 4,000 districts • 21,000 questions/performance tasks in English and math, grades 3-8 and 11

15. Resources to Help Schools Prepare • Practice Tests Available since May 2013 • Both subject areas, grades 3 through 8 and 11 • Approx. 23 items & 1 performance task in each subject • Uses same software as operational test • Many accessibility and accommodation resources • Training Test Now Available • Quick Introduction to Smarter Balanced interface, item types, and resources • 14 items combined in English and math (all item types represented) • Grade bands (3 to 5, 6 to 8, and high school) • Most accessibility and accommodation resources • Also On-line: • All test design documents: blueprints, content specifications, item specifications • Technology specifications and Bandwidth Checker • Test Administration Manual and Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines • Training modules on an array of topics

16. Common Performance Standards: A Reminder of How We Got Here Grade 4 Reading State Proficiency Standards Compared to NAEP, 2009

17. Setting Performance Standards • Unprecedented in the United States for K-12 accountability assessments to share common performance standards • Will require consensus among member states • In order to provide information to states for 2014-15 interim & summative assessments, a very tight timeframe: • April: States vote on standard setting design • Summer: Score and calibrate field test data, prepare for standard-setting • September: • Distributed Standard Setting (up to 250K participants) • Standard Setting Workshop (~500 participants) • State Vote (Chiefs—w/ Higher Education for Gr 11) • As Required, State Board Approval

18. Addressing Key Issues

19. Technology Requirements Responsive to School Needs • Standards released last year for new and existing hardware & software, updated to reflect new products • Schools do NOT need one-to-one computers • Technology standards maximize access to online testing (support for older machines and operating systems, small file size to reduce bandwidth requirements) • School with 600 students could test online with a single 30-computer lab • Smarter Balanced Tech Readiness Calculator allows schools to estimate number of testing days and associated bandwidth • Pencil-and-paper option available for three-year transition period • Computer-adaptive format allows long and flexible test administration window without sacrificing security

20. Safeguarding Student Privacy • States endorsed principle that each state will retain control of its student data. • Smarter Balanced will share no student-level information with the federal government. • Smarter Balanced will not sell student data. • PARCC and Smarter chiefs recently sent letter to Secretary Duncan affirming that consortia will not change state reporting practices. • Each state will enter data privacy and security agreements to safeguard student data.

21. Student Privacy (cont.) • Smarter Balanced will collect only the following information: • An identification number (recommended that this number be different from the state’s official unique student identifier, so only the state can tie back to the student’s official education record) • Race/ethnicity, gender, grade level, school attended • Eligibility for English language development services or special education services; • Eligibility for Title I compensatory programs; and • Smarter Balanced test scores, achievement levels, and responses to test items. • Smarter Balanced will NOT require states to report student name or date of birth. • Smarter Balanced will never sell student information to anyone.

22. Anticipating and Managing Costs • States now spend an average of $35 per student (0.3% of per pupil expenditures). • Two components of cost: • Smarter Balanced Membership Fee for member-governed maintenance and continuous improvement of the assessment system • An estimate of costs for member-managed activities, including test administration, scoring, and training • Pricing is per student participant in the summative assessment, with the total number of students capped at 1 million per state. • Cost estimates below current expenditures for two-thirds of Smarter Balanced states.

23. Price Structure

24. Sustaining Smarter Balanced • Working with UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies to serve as host and partner for a sustainable Smarter Balanced. • Key principles: • Retain state led governance of the Consortium (only minor changes to governance structure envisioned). • Shared state ownership of the item pool, digital library, and other IP. • Smarter Balanced will perform services necessary to maintain quality and comparability of the assessment system; states and their vendors will manage test administration.

25. Learn More and Stay Engaged Visit SmarterBalanced.org for the latest news and developments Sign up for the e-newsletter Follow on Twitter: @SmarterBalanced