Common Core | News

Wireless Generation To Spearhead Open Source System for Common Core Assessment Results

• By Leila Meyer
• 11/29/12

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium has selected a developer for its online, open source solution for reporting results from student assessments.

Smarter Balanced is working to develop a system of assessments that aim to measure student progress toward college and career readiness, guided by the belief that such an assessment system can help educators improve instruction and help students succeed, regardless of ability, language, or background. The selection of the reporting system developer is the next step toward achieving that goal.

The selection involved a competitive procurement process overseen by the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), and an evaluation committee made up of representatives from Smarter Balanced Governing States reviewed and scored the proposals. Following this process, Smarter Balanced awarded the contract to Wireless Generation.

Wireless Generation will develop the reporting system in partnership with Educational Testing Services (ETS) and in collaboration with stakeholders, including member states, K-12 educators, higher education faculty, parents, students, and partners. The developers will heed stakeholder research and results of user testing. Smarter Balanced will provide opportunities for input into the requirements of the reporting system early next year, and in the summer of 2014, Wireless Generation will deliver the completed system, ready for integration with other assessment system technology components.

The Smarter Balanced assessment system will include formative, interim, and summative components that measure achievement and growth toward college and career readiness, according to information released by the organization. Authorized users will have access to reports summarizing student achievement and growth at the classroom, school, district, and state levels.

“Results from student assessments are most useful when they illustrate student progress and help inform instruction,” said Joe Willhoft, executive director of Smarter Balanced, in a prepared statement. “The Smarter Balanced assessment system will allow teachers and parents to see how students are progressing throughout their schooling, what skills they have mastered, and get access to additional tools to support their success.”

Further information about the Consortium's procurement process, including the reporting system RFP and Wireless Generation's proposal, is available on the State of Washington OSPI site.