Index of archived SBAC e-mail updates
SBAC/CDE Top News
- Higher Education SBAC Leads Announced
- IT Readiness Tool Update
- Mathematics Content Specifications Review (Round 2) Completed
- SBAC CDE Question/Answer of the Week
SBAC Announcements
- Higher Education SBAC Leads Announced: In January, SBAC is expected to announce a full roster of Higher Education Leads from member states. These leads will serve as a central point of contact for their states and seek input from a variety of higher education stakeholders. They will also nominate individuals to serve on Consortium work groups. SBAC has already engaged with the Higher Education Leads to begin the important discussions about how students can demonstrate college readiness through the assessment system.
- IT Readiness Tool Update: The SBAC, Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC), Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) and National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC) are currently working with NSC Pearson to develop an IT readiness tool. This tool will support the member States and their local education agencies (LEAs) as they evaluate their current technology and infrastructure in terms of readiness to implement the new assessment system and identify strategies to update their technology based on gaps identified. The readiness tool will include an evaluation of rules, policies, infrastructure, hardware, software, staffing size and preparedness, required data collection, and associated information systems deemed essential to a successful implementation of the new assessment system. The tool will guide the State, LEA, or school through a process of establishing strategies to address technology needs identified by the readiness tool. Finally, the State, LEA, or school will be able to use the tool as a continuing work space to monitor and evaluate changes that are made in the “system” and determine the impact of readiness updates. Later this month, in collaboration with PARCC, DLM and NCSC, SBAC will provide additional information about the IT readiness tool to member states. It is anticipated that the tool will be ready in spring 2012.
- Mathematics Content Specifications Review (Round 2) Completed: Member states submitted feedback on the final review of the Mathematics Content Specifications on January 3, 2012. 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. The Mathematics Content Specifications materials are available at SBAC Resources page (Outside Source).
SBAC Resource Updates
- SBAC materials and resources at the national level can be found at The SBAC Materials and Resources page (Outside Source).
- Visit the SBAC Web site to view the latest SBAC Power Point presentation (PDF; 2MB; 26pp.)
SBAC CDE Question/Answer of the Week (taken from the SBAC CDE Frequently Asked Questions document found at SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium page.)
How does the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) compare to the SBAC?
The SBAC provides a new generation assessment system designed to measure student performance on the Common Core State Standards beginning in the 2014-15 school year. The SBAC assessments and results that are comparable across states at the student level, meet internationally rigorous benchmarks, and allow valid measures of student longitudinal growth.
The NAEP is a national assessment that measures student progress in various subject areas over a long period of time. Assessments are conducted periodically in mathematics, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography, and U.S. history. The NAEP does not provide scores for individual students, districts, or schools. The NAEP results are based on national representative samples of students at grades four, eight, and twelve for the main assessments, or samples of students at ages nine, thirteen, or seventeen years for the long-term trend assessments.
