Index of archived SBAC e-mail updates
SBAC CDE News
- ASCD Launches Common Core Resources Website
- Engaging Higher Education Leaders in the Common Core and SBAC
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.
- ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) Launches Common Core Resources Website—EduCore
, a new website developed by ASCD, provides easy access to evidence-based tools and resources to help middle and high school educators implement the Common Core State Standards. The site includes videos and instructional resources from the Literacy Design Collaborative and the Shell Centre for Mathematical Education. Registered users can save their searches, organize tools, and annotate resources. In the future, ASCD intends to expand the number of mathematics formative assessment lessons and sample literacy modules. - Engaging Higher Education Leaders in the Common Core and SBAC—Effective implementation of the Common Core State Standards and aligned assessments depends on outreach and engagement with the higher education community. SBAC is working with higher education leaders and faculty to ensure that the grade 11 assessment provides evidence that students are ready for entry-level, credit-bearing coursework. To make sure higher education is at the table, SBAC has published a planning guide for higher education, Building a Plan for Higher Education to Implement the Smarter Balanced Assessment System
. In addition, Higher Education Leads
are drafting state-specific plans this summer to engage faculty and administrators in the implementation of the Common Core and Smarter Balanced assessments. SBAC has also engaged five highly experienced and respected higher education leaders to work with the Governing States on a regional basis. These regional senior advisors
assist states in crafting and implementing plans to engage college faculty and administrators in understanding the Common Core, responding to the standards’ implications for higher education, and contributing to the development of the SBAC system. To date, the regional advisors have either visited or scheduled visits with 15 of the consortium's 21 governing states. As states move from planning to implementation, the regional advisors will monitor progress, identify areas of concern, provide strategic advice and technical assistance, and identify ways in which SBAC can better serve the needs of member states.
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
- Send comments by e-mail to reauthorization@cde.ca.gov.
- Attend the Statewide Assessment Reauthorization Work Group meetings, which are open to the public.
- 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.
- National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) Presentation—This recorded webinar was shared by the NAESP and presented an overview of the SBAC system design, timeline, and progress as of June 2012. To view this webinar and other webinars detailing the SBAC work to-date, visit the SBAC Webinars Web page .
Common Assessment Resources
- New Resources and Webinars on Standards and Assessments—Student Achievement Partners released ready-to-use professional development modules
to assist educators in the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. These modules contain resources for educators, including research, discussion topics, activities, web and video tools, and more.
- Consortia Provide Preview of Common Assessments, by Catherine Gewertz—As teachers begin shaping lessons for the common standards, many are wondering how to prepare their students for tests that won’t be ready for at least two years. But sample items being drafted for those exams offer early ideas of what lies ahead. Two large groups of states are using federal Race to the Top money to create new suites of exams for the Common Core State Standards. Those consortia have recently begun work with private vendors to develop items—questions and tasks—for the tests. But each group has produced a range of sample test items to help those vendors get an idea of what the states want, and experts say they offer valuable insight into the tests that are expected to emerge in 2014-15. Education Week .
- A Glimpse of What to Expect From the Common Assessments in Curriculum Matters by Catherine Gewertz—If everything I heard in interviews and travel for my job these days could be condensed into a frequently-asked-questions document, probably the top item would be this: What kinds of questions and tasks can we anticipate on the common assessments in 2014-15? Poking around for answers, I discovered that there was actually a lot more floating around out there than I—and many educators who ask me this question all the time—had realized. In recent months, the two federally funded assessment consortia have been drafting sample items to give their contracted vendors an idea of the sorts of things they want to see on the exams. These examples aren't easy to find, which explains why many of the folks most eagerly awaiting them don't have any clue that they're out there. They've been making the rounds at conferences and such, and circulating among member states for feedback. I've rounded up a few of the documents that contain lots of these sample items, and I report some feedback on them from the field, in a new story just posted on our website, Education Week .
SBAC Question/Answer of the Week
Q:
What is the schedule for additional data collections through the Technology Readiness Tool?
A:
Earlier this year, SBAC and PARCC collaborated to launch the Technology Readiness Tool, a project designed to help states plan for the transition to online assessments. The first data collection window served as a baseline inventory of technology and supporting infrastructure that will inform policy and improvements of the tool. Subsequent data collection is scheduled for fall 2012, spring 2013, fall 2013, spring 2014, and summer 2014. Additional information will be available through State Readiness Coordinators.
