January 11, 2013

A few FAQS from districts regarding the 2013 pilot

Smarter Balanced welcomes feedback on the content, coherence, clarity, and rigor of the Achievement Level Descriptors and College Readiness Policy from member states, partners, and individual stakeholders through January 15, An online feedback survey can be accessed at

The 2013 scientific pilot window is February 20 through May 10, 2013 The 2013 volunteer window is early April through May 10, 2013 For the scientific pilot, schools throughout the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium were selected for participation based on certain demographic and psychometric variables. These schools will be assigned to administer an online assessment for particular grades and content areas. Any school may volunteer for the pilot and will have the opportunity to administer released test items of the pilot. Schools may volunteer at this site: Volunteer schools may sign up for any combination of grades and content areas.

Whom do I contact if I have general questions about the pilot or specific questions related to uploading students and navigating the online delivery system?  Please contact the AIR Help Desk:  Phone: 

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is a state-led consortium developing assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics that are designed to help prepare all students to graduate from high school college- and career- ready. The pilot gives the Consortium an opportunity to (1) gather data on the functioning of items, (2) conduct initial scaling, and (3) test the online delivery engine.

Once a school is confirmed as a volunteer school for the pilot, that school will have the flexibility to engage in the testing opportunity in the way that best meets its needs—multiple grades, one or both content areas, one grade or class level. The only exception to this would be if a school that volunteers is also identified for the scientific sample. Under this unique circumstance, the school will follow the specific expectations for those grades identified in the scientific sample but will be able to retain flexibility in those grades that are volunteers.

When a school is picked for the SBAC pilot, all students who take the general assessment are encouraged to participate except students who take the Kansas Alternate Assessment. Therefore, students who take the KAMM, ELL students, and students with disabilities taking either the general or the KAMM are encouraged to participate in the pilot.

This will be found in the Smarter Balanced Pilot Test Administrator Manual and Smarter Balanced Pilot Test Coordinator Manual once they are available. Additionally, please refer to your state’s policies on maintaining test security.

No. Much like standard testing protocols, tests are not for general viewing, and only students should be viewing the items in the pilot. Staff wishing to become familiar with the types of items should refer to the sample items on the Smarter Balanced website ( items-and-performance-tasks/) and to the training test to be released in January. After the pilot test is over, a practice test is scheduled for release in summer 2013.

QUESTION: What do Kansas educators value in a large-scale assessment?

The Kansas State Department of Education will be surveying educators across the state to determine what characteristics of a large-scale assessment system they value the most. The survey questions are intended to prevent either- or thinking (e.g., either the ACT or SBAC) and will assist KSDE in gathering information. The following are sample questions:

 Reporting Achievement and Progress:  Large-Scale Assessment System:  Measuring Student Achievement:  Measuring Teacher Effectiveness:  Technology Requirements and Considerations:  Financial Considerations:

Example 1: A large-scale assessment should be comprised of “instructionally sensitive” test questions in order to ensure that teacher effective can be inferred from assessment scores. NOTE: The questions will be written essentially as assertions with an accompanying likert scale allowing for a “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree” scale.

Example 2: “A large-scale summative assessment should provide individual student-level reports that can be used to make instructional decisions.” Example 3: “A large-scale assessment should measure students against a curricular criterion rather than the performance of other students.”

Pilot Updates

The first pilot CPass pilot took place from November to December However, not all schools were able to participate in the Fall. KSDE is, therefore, opening a second pilot window opening January 15 th and closing on February 12 th The second pilot window is ONLY for schools who were originally signed up for the first pilot window but were unable to participate. Questions regarding the General CTE assessment pilot project, please contact Jay Scott, Agriculture-specific assessments will be piloted in the spring of 2013 Questions regarding the Agriculture assessments piloting this spring, please contact Kurt Dillon,