WA Teacher: We View Smarter Balanced as a Teaching Tool
Alisa Louie, an English Language Learner Specialist, Interventionist and Teacher Coach at Evergreen Heights Elementary in Auburn, WA, wrote a guest blog on Ready Washington’s Medium channel about assessments and Smarter Balanced. She made two important points that are often overlooked regarding testing and Smarter Balanced. Wrote Louie, “At my school, we view the Smarter Balanced assessments as…
PA Teacher of the Year: Smarter Balanced Reflects What Students Should Know
Anthony Grisillo, the 2014-15 teacher of the year in Pennsylvania, recently participated in a study by the National Network of State Teachers of the Year (NNSTOY). Grisillo, a teacher librarian, along with a dozen or so other teachers, reviewed the Smarter Balanced fifth-grade assessment against former state tests in Oregon and Nevada. In a blog article in…
Letter: WA Businessman Knows Value of High-Quality Assessments
In a letter to the editor in the Bellevue Reporter titled, “Student assessments ensure students gain needed skills,” Bellevue, WA businessman Peter Raulerson writes about the need to challenge students with rigorous learning standards and high-quality assessments, like Smarter Balanced. Washington state’s economy is creating jobs — 700,000 during the next five years — but employers are forced to…
Desmos, Smarter Balanced Partner on Free, Accessible Online Calculator
Desmos, which has created a free online graphing calculator, announced its new partnership with Smarter Balanced. Desmos won a competitive contract with Smarter Balanced in 2016 to build an online calculator that provides accessible features for students who are blind and visually impaired. You can watch a video and read about the Desmos-Smarter Balanced partnership at CNN. Smarter Balanced will…
Oregon HS Teacher: My Students Say Test Represents Their Learning
Oregon high school math teacher Allan Brunner, the state’s 2006 Teacher of the Year, was curious if Smarter Balanced represented what his students were learning in class. So he went right to the source: his students. What I didn’t know was how my students would react to the Smarter Balanced test. Would they see taking…
REPORT: Teachers Call Smarter Balanced More Rigorous, Better Aligned
A new report released Monday shows that Smarter Balanced assessments, when compared to former state assessments, are more rigorous and better aligned with classroom instruction. These were the findings in a report “Still on the Right Trajectory,” released by the National Network of State Teachers of the Year (NNSTOY), in partnership with EducationCounsel and Clowder…
RELEASE: Smarter Balanced Partners with UC Santa Cruz
April 27, 2017For Immediate Release UC Santa Cruz Silicon Valley Extension will serve as the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium’s new fiscal agent. The transition will begin immediately as we conclude our three-year stay at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. “The mission of UCSC Silicon Valley Extension includes supporting K-12 education through high-quality curriculum…
Six Big Ideas for Getting “Smarter Balanced Ready”
In 2015, the first year Smarter Balanced tests were given in Washington state, staff from Vancouver Public Schools wanted to help parents better understand the new tests their students would be taking. During parent-teacher nights, the teachers gave online practice tests to parents. They found that not only did parents enjoy the experience, but they…
Teacher Twitter Chat on Smarter Balanced Assessments
A group of teacher leaders in Washington state participated in an informative Sunday night Twitter chat about Smarter Balanced assessments. Using the hashtag #WATeachLead, the teachers, who are a part of the CORElaborate WA program, shared their thoughts on state testing and asked questions to the Smarter Balanced Twitter handle. The entire Twitter chat is also captured via Storify (it’s…
Explore, Interact With Sample Test Items on New Website
Smarter Balanced has developed a new website that allows users to interact with test questions in a similar manner to that of a student taking a Smarter Balanced assessment. The new Sample Items website, organized by grade and subject, displays items and questions exactly as students encounter them on actual tests: fully interactive with a range of accessibility options. The new Sample Items…