SBAC Tutorial
Summary of the Tool
“The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) is a state-led consortium working to develop next-generation assessments that accurately measure student progress toward college- and career-readiness. Smarter Balanced is one of two multistate consortia awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Education in 2010 to develop an assessment system aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) by the 2014-15 school year.” http://www.smarterbalanced.org/about/
This new multi-state initiative is a vast change from the standardized tests that came before it. This is an online, adaptive, inclusive test that our students will be facing for years to come. At the moment, the differences between this test and the classic state based tests are drastic and the available information to prepare teachers has been lacking.
Pedagogical Uses
This new test is not without its challenges. However, it does provide some teachability that the classic standardized tests did not. Due to the testing environment being completely online, we now have access to training materials that can allow us to simulate a real testing environment.
The practice testing sessions are intentionally short and have preset questions with which to train. However, acclimating ourselves and our students to the new testing environment is relatively easy (with proper guidance) and takes only a short amount of time. The only requirements to run a training test session is a computer lab and an acceptable browser.
Simply bring your class to a computer lab, direct all students to follow the link above, and then follow the directions in the video posted below.
How to do it
The video below outlines how to setup and run a training session. This requires that your administrators have set you up an account with SBAC and you have received the confirmation email with your password.
The video is designed to show both the test administrators interface, on the left, and the students log in and practice interface, on the right.
Below you will find the primary points of interest during test administration. Please make sure to record your Session ID when it is created as it will be required to log back in if you happen to become disconnected from the service. Also of note, after you start the session, the Start Session button will turn RED and change to a Stop Session button. Sessions should only be stopped once all students have completed their tests.
Limitations
The major drawback to this test is the lack of available information concerning its administration. Limited availability of reasonable training materials caused a tremendous amount of stress for teachers in my school during the pilot administration tear. .
Conclusion
Despite the poor rollout and lack of reasonable training material for both teachers and students, the SBAC seems to be a step in the right direction for standardized testing. The computer based environment is comfortable for most students. The tools made available in the program allow for all students to have access to the same calculators and scratch paper materials. Finally, the lack of accommodations required for special educations is a welcome change. The philosophy for the SBAC is that if an accommodation is good for one student, it is good for all students.