Index of archived SBAC e-mail updates
SBAC CDE News
- Governing States elect California’s Deb Sigman to Executive Committee
- SBAC Work with Educators
The SBAC CDE weekly update is an email sent each week to inform California educators and parents of new developments and upcoming events. Please feel free to share information in the update with those who are interested in the SBAC CDE’s work.
- Governing States elect Deb Sigman to Executive Committee—The Governing States have elected Deborah Sigman, the SBAC state lead from California, to the SBAC Executive Committee. Deb has over 35 years of experience in the assessment and accountability arena in K-12 California public schools. She has served as a district administrator overseeing various aspects of assessment, research, and evaluation, including the development of district-level assessments and the training of teachers in the interpretation and use of assessment data. She served as California’s State Testing Director from January 2004 until May 2008, when she then became the Deputy Superintendent of the Public Instruction, District, School, and Innovation Branch for the CDE. She currently serves as the vice-chair of the National Assessment Governing Board-CCSSO Policy Task Force and as a member of the Education Information Management Advisory Consortium Assessment Task Force. Deb Sigman will fill the position Joseph Martineau recently vacated when he was elected as Executive Committee Co-Chair.
- SBAC Work with Educators—This summer and fall, SBAC will work with educators to develop assessment items and performance tasks in English language arts/literacy and mathematics for the Pilot Test of the assessment system in early 2013. Teachers have been recruited by Governing States to write and review items and performance tasks for content, bias/sensitivity, and accessibility. This work will be guided by the SBAC item/task specifications and review guidelines
.
CDE Opportunity to Provide Feedback
- Reauthorization of the California Pupil Assessment System—
As part of the process in developing recommendations to the Legislature for the reauthorization of the California pupil assessment system, State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) Tom Torlakson, is seeking your help. All Californians have a unique opportunity to provide thoughts on and suggestions for what they think should be included in this system. Several opportunities exist for you to provide feedback. You may:- Complete a brief survey:
- You may access the English version of the survey
online.
- You may access the Spanish version of the survey
online.
- You may access the English version of the survey
- Complete a brief survey:
- To access the schedule of Work Group meetings and learn more about the statewide assessment reauthorization process, please visit the AB 250 Statewide Pupil Assessment Web page.
SBAC CDE Resources
- Join the SBAC CDE electronic mailing list by sending a blank e-mail to subscribe-sbac@mlist.cde.ca.gov.
- To receive Common Core State Standards CDE Updates via e-mail notification, subscribe to the from CDE listserv by sending a blank message to join-commoncore@mlist.cde.ca.gov.
- SBAC CDE Web site—The Smarter Balanced CDE Web site includes access to archived SBAC CDE Updates, resources, and presentations.
- SBAC External Web site—The Smarter Balanced external Web site
showcases the SBAC work and provides frequent updates on activities, milestones, and events. - Smarter News, the SBAC's monthly eNewsletter —Smarter Balanced provides monthly updates on the development of the Smarter Balanced assessment system and activities in member states.
- SBAC is on Twitter—Follow @SmarterBalanced to get resources and links to the latest SBAC news.
- Assembly Bill (AB) 250—The AB 250 Statewide Pupil Assessment Web page provides the latest information about the reauthorization of California's assessment system.
- K-12 Center Report on Technology and Assessments—The K-12 Center at ETS released a new report about how technology impacts assessment through greater accessibility, technology-enhanced items, and personalized learning. Sea Change in Assessment: How Technology Is Transforming K-12 Testing is available online.
SBAC Question/Answer of the Week
Q: Will the Smarter Balanced assessment system be compatible or comparable to assessment systems from other consortia?
A: SBAC is collaborating with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) to ensure that there is comparability across the two assessments at the proficiency cut score for every grade. Both consortia will jointly engage with technical and policy advisors to study cross-consortia comparability.
