Posts by nwilkins
New Findings from Smarter Balanced on Through-Year Assessment Programs
Smarter Balanced is pleased to announce the publication of two papers that explore the viability and use of through-year assessment models.
Read MoreBack-to-School Reading List to Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month
Smarter Balanced is celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15) with a list of books to incorporate into the back-to-school season. The following books celebrate Hispanic characters, stories, authors, and inclusive content- organized by grades 3-12.
Read More6 Books for Teachers to Celebrate National Women’s Equality Day
Smarter Balanced is celebrating National Women’s Equality Day, which falls annually on August 26, with a reading list—highlighting women’s voices and the challenges they have faced in the field of education.
Read MoreSmarter Balanced Hires Executive Administrative Officer and Deputy Executive Program Officer
Santa Clara, CA, August 3, 2022—Smarter Balanced is pleased to announce the hirings of Bryce Carpenter, Ph.D. as its new Executive Administrative Officer and Rochelle Michel, Ph.D. as its new Deputy Executive Program Officer. The addition of these highly qualified individuals marks a commitment to building a robust organization committed to serving all students.
Read MoreTen Smarter Tools for Ten Years
Smarter Balanced Celebrates a Decade of Supporting Educators Building web-based applications to support teaching has been part of Smarter Balanced’s mission from the beginning. We heard loud and clear that high-quality assessment requires equally high-quality support in the classroom to ensure student learning goals are aligned with state academic standards. The challenging work of teaching…
Read MoreCelebrating 10 Years of Collaboration
Smarter Balanced Honors Consortium Members and Educators for their Dedication to Developing High-Quality Measurement Tools and Instructional Supports Thank you, educators! As we celebrate Smarter Balanced’s 10th anniversary, we honor your work and the collaboration of hundreds of educators to build a fair, accurate system to measure what our students know and can do. And…
Read MoreSmarter Balanced Launches Tools for Teachers
Created by Educators, Website Provides Lessons and Activities to Support Instruction Santa Clara, Calif. (September 30, 2020) — Smarter Balanced announced the grand opening of Tools for Teachers, an easy-to-use website featuring standards-aligned lessons and strategies designed by educators to save teachers time and boost student learning. Educators can use Tools for Teachers to find trusted lessons and…
Read MoreNewly Released Sample Questions Can Help Support Instruction
The Smarter Balanced Sample Items Website now includes 104 newly released test questions that previously appeared on the year-end (summative) math and English language arts tests in grades 3-8 and high school. Educators can use the sample test questions to better understand how Smarter Balanced measures college and career ready content and what students need to know and do. The newly released questions add to the nearly…
Read MoreSmarter Balanced Year in Review 2019
Supporting Educators and Students at a Whole New Level This was a busy year—and decade—at Smarter Balanced! We’ll ring out the “teens” invigorated by our commitment to improving learning outcomes for students. And in June, we’ll celebrate our 10th anniversary, when states and territories banded together to develop our world-class assessment system. In 2019, we released a suite of…
Read MoreFive Built-in Test Tools Students Should Know (and Use!)
Familiarizing Students with Universal Test Tools Can Yield Confidence Boost Smarter Balanced digitally-delivered assessments (interims, the summative test, and practice tests) include a wide array of embedded universal test tools. These are available to students as part of the technology platform. Students gain confidence with the testing software when they understand how to use these…
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