Transcript Document

Smarter Balanced:
On Track and Moving Forward
Joe Willhoft, Executive Director
Presentation delivered as part of the series:
Spotlight on Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
Ready, Set, Go: Smarter Balanced Assessment System in Connecticut
March 31, 2014
Agenda
•
•
•
How is Smarter Balanced Different?
Progress in Developing the Assessment System
Field Test
Addressing Key Issues:
Technology
Student Privacy
Setting Performance Standards (“cut scores”)
Sustainability
About Smarter Balanced
Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium
•
•
24 states &
territories (22
governing, 1
advisory, 1
affiliate)
K-12 & Higher
Education
Leads in each
state
A Balanced Assessment System
Common
Core State
Standards
specify
K-12
expectations
for college
and career
readiness
Summative
assessments
Benchmarked to
college and career
readiness
Teachers and
schools have
information and
tools they need to
improve teaching
and learning
Teacher resources for
formative assessment
practices
to improve instruction
Interim
assessments
Flexible, open, used
for actionable
feedback
All students
leave
high school
college
and career
ready
Assessing the Common Core
Draw Identify
Define
Calculate
Arrange
Design
Repeat
Recall
Level
Four
Apply Concepts
(Extended
Thinking)
Critique
Create
Match
Recognize
Prove
Categorize
Use
Infer
Level One
(Recall)
Synthesize
Analyze
Memorize
Illustrate
Who, What, When, Where, Why Measure
Tabulate Name
Connect
Smarter
Balanced
assessments
move beyond
basic skills and
recall to assess
higher-order
skills such as
critical thinking
and problem
solving
List
Graph
Classify
Describe
Explain
Interpret
Level Two
(Skill/
Concept)
Revise
Modify
Cause/Effect
Relate
Level Three
(Strategic
Thinking)
Predict
Compare
Interpret
Estimate
Assess
Develop a Logical Argument
Use Concepts to Solve
Non-Routine Problems
Apprise Investigate
Critique
Formulate
Organize
Draw Conclusions
Hypothesize
Summarize
Construct
Show
Compare
Explain
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
Educator Involvement
Item Development & Review
• 500+ educators from member states
Digital Library of Formative Assessment Tools & Practices
• State Leadership Teams: 7 to 12 member steering committees
• State Network of Educators: 70 to 150 members per state identifying and
reviewing materials
• 1,500 educators involved across consortium
Teacher Ambassadors
• 125 teachers drawn from leadership of NEA and AFT
• Trained on Smarter Balanced so that they can keep their fellow teachers
informed
• Contributing to Digital Library
Accessibility & Accommodations
Note: For detailed information, see the Smarter Balanced Usability, Accessibility, and
Accommodations Guidelines
8
Test Development Update
Assessment Development
Field Test
Item
Development
Complete
(December
2013)
Cognitive
Labs and
Small-scale
Trials (201213)
Pilot Test
(Spring 2013)
Preliminary
Standardsetting
(September
2014)
Field Test
(March 18 to
June 6, 2014
Operational
Assessment
Launch
(2014-15)
Pilot Test: Approximately 650,000 students at more than 4,000 schools
Field Test: Expect more than 3 million students at more than 20,000 schools
Field Testing:
A Practice Run of New Assessments
•
•
•
•
“Tests the tests” to ensure 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
produced
Field Test Scope
•
•
•
Testing Window: March 25 to June 6
All 22 Governing States and US Virgin Islands
At least 3 million students (research sample = 1.9M)
– Most states: 10% of students in English, 10% in
math
– 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
Resources to Help Schools Prepare
•
Practice Test (will be updated May 2014)




•
Training Test




•
Quick Introduction to Smarter Balanced interface, item types, and resources
14 items combined in English and math (all item types represented)
Grade bands (3 – 5, 6 – 8, and high school)
All accessibility and accommodation features
Communications Toolkit of Easily Customizable Resources:





•
Both subject areas, grades 3 through 8 and 11
Approx. 23 items & 1 performance task in each subject
Uses same software as operational test
Most accessibility and accommodation features
Parent Notification Letter (in English and Spanish) and Robo-call Script
Parent Q&A
PowerPoint Presentation (suitable for use at PTA meetings)
Newsletter Article
Web Buttons to drive traffic to Practice and Training Test
Visit http://sbac.portal.airast.org/
Addressing Key Issues
Technology Requirements Responsive to
School Needs
•
•
•
•
Online “Readiness Tool” allows schools and districts to
evaluate technology readiness
Standards have been established for new and existing
hardware
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 30computer 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
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 provide data to third parties (e.g.
researchers) without state approval.
– PARCC and Smarter chiefs recently sent letter to Secretary
Duncan affirming that consortia will not change state
reporting practices.
Each state has entered data privacy and security agreements
to safeguard student information.
Setting Performance Standards
•
•
•
•
•
•
Content Standards (Common Core) define what students
must know and be able to do. Performance Standards
define how well or how thoroughly students have mastered
the content standards.
Currently, each state sets its own performance standards.
Under Smarter Balanced, seeking consensus among 22
states!
Four Performance Levels: Level 3 = on track to
college/career readiness at a particular grade.
Standards set through a deliberative process involving
primarily K-12 teachers and higher education faculty.
Opportunities for parent involvement as well.
Standard setters will be able to reference outside
benchmarks (e.g. NAEP, SAT, ACT)
Standard Setting Calendar
April 29-30
• Chiefs vote on standard setting design
Mid September
• Distributed Standard Setting
Late September
• In-Person Standard Setting
Early October
Fall 2014
• Chiefs endorse recommended Cut Scores
• States ratify (e.g. state board approval)
• Seek participation commitments from colleges and
universities for 2014-15 11th graders
A Smarter Future
Sustaining Smarter Balanced
•
•
Federal grant funding consortium expires 9/30/14
•
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.
Working with UCLA Graduate School of Education and
Information Studies to serve as host and partner for a
sustainable Smarter Balanced.
Future Work
•
Continuing the work of the Proficiency Based Learning Task
Force
•
•
Investing in supports for mathematic reasoning
•
•
•
Commission additional formative modules
•
Validate achievement standards and the assessment itself
Validating AI scoring and promoting the value of
handscoring
Commission additional items and tasks
Move summative items and tasks from summative to
interim
Questions/Discussion