Index of archived SBAC e-mail updates
SBAC Top New
- Mathematics Content Specifications Review (Round 2)
- Technical Advisory Committee Meeting
- Summative Assessment Work Plan and Procurement Schedule
- SBAC CDE Frequently Asked Questions posted
SBAC Announcements
- Mathematics Content Specifications Review (Round 2): The SBAC’s revised content specification for mathematics is available for review through January 3, 2012. This draft reflects revisions based on feedback from more than 200 individuals and organizations. Stakeholders will have until 11:59 p.m. Pacific time on Tuesday, January 3 to submit feedback on this final review of the Mathematics Content Specifications. Once finalized, the content specifications for mathematics and ELA/literacy will serve as the basis for the SMARTER Balanced system of summative and interim assessments and formative assessment support for teachers. The Mathematics Content Specifications materials are available at the SBAC Resources page (Outside Source). Instructions on how to provide feedback are posted at the same location.
- SBAC Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Meeting: The third meeting of the Consortium’s TAC took place in mid December. Discussions included issues related to the validity framework for the assessment system, the alignment of Content Specifications to the Common Core, approaches to scaling, and the plan for the development of items and tasks for the pilot test. The TAC meetings are held as internal SBAC meetings only. Five of the 13 committee members are affiliated with leading California institutions: Jamal Abedi, UC Davis; Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford University; Ed Haertel, Stanford University; Joan Herman, National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing; James Popham, UCLA.
- SMARTER Balanced Summative Assessment Work Plan and Procurement Schedule: The summative assessment master work plan and procurement schedule details SBAC major activities and contract solicitations during the life of the project. The master work plan and procurement schedule are the result of the collaborative work of 10 state-led work groups, as well as feedback from Consortium member states and prospective vendors. The master work plan includes 95 activities that encompass significant efforts to develop the summative assessment. Each activity is accompanied by a description of the expected outcome and scope, providing a clear outline of the Consortium’s approach. The procurement schedule groups tasks that are similar, or have strong interdependencies, together to create a coherent process for issuing contract solicitations. Both documents are available online on the SBAC Resources page (Outside Source).
SBAC CDE Resource Updates
- New SBAC CDE Frequently Asked Questions document posted on the CDE SBAC Web page.
- SBAC CDE will be sending out regular updates beginning January 9, 2012.
SBAC CDE Question/Answer of the Week (taken from the SBAC CDE Frequently Asked Questions document noted above)
What is SBAC computer adaptive testing?
This type of testing is a form of computer based testing that adapts to the student’s ability level. The SBAC summative assessments are being developed around technology known as Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT). The CAT assessment ‘engine’ begins by delivering a short series of moderately difficult grade level test items to the student and then, depending on the student’s initial performance, delivers items that are either more or less difficult. This process continues until the student’s level of proficiency is determined. With CAT, every student essentially receives a unique assessment so there is no need to test all the students at one time. Schools will be able to group and assess students in a configuration that matches their specific capacity. CAT also permits a much longer assessment window to run all the students through the assessment. This will allow California to move into the next generation of computer-delivered assessments, without disadvantaging some schools because of limited bandwidth or computers-to-students ratio.
