Smarter Balanced To Host Public Meeting About Assessment System

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium will host a conference this week about the design and implementation of its assessment system for the Common Core State Standards. Smarter Balanced is a group of 25 member states working to develop a common assessment system for Math and English literacy that is aligned with the Common Core.

State education chiefs, K-12 state leads, higher education leads, work group members, and contractors from the consortium's 25 member states will take part in the Smarter Balanced Collaboration Conference. As part of the conference, they will "facilitate coordination on key projects, such as the test delivery, administration, and reporting systems," according to a press release from the consortium.

The conference will also include a two-hour public meeting of the state education chiefs. They will discuss the test blueprint, the process for developing achievement level descriptors, the Pilot Test scheduled for early 2013, and sustainability planning. The consortium has invited members of the public to attend this session.

Items on the agenda of the public meeting include:

  • Approval process for development and approval of Achievement Level Descriptors (ALDs);
  • Approval of collaboration on sustainability project with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), the National Governors Association (NGA), and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC); and
  • Approval of sampling plan for Pilot Test design.

Smarter Balanced will distribute a summary of the decisions following the meeting.

The public meeting will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 12, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Central at the Renaissance St. Louis Airport Hotel in St. Louis, MO. Further information about the Smarter Balanced Collaboration Conference is available on the Smarter Balanced site.

About the Author

Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].

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