Teach2Know

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is one of two multistate consortia awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Education to develop an assessment system based on the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The other assessment consortium is Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC).

Smarter Balanced assessment system will be using computer adaptive testing (CAT).

How does CAT work?

Based on the student responses, the computer program adjusts the difficulty of questions throughout the assessment. For example, a student who answers a question correctly will receive a more challenging item, while an incorrect answer generated an easier question.

Computer adaptive tests are typically shorter than paper-and-pencil assessments because fewer questions are required to accurately determine each student’s achievement level. By adapting to the student as the assessment is taking place, these assessments present an individually tailored set of questions to each student and can quickly identify which skills students have mastered. The assessments draw from a  large bank of questions, and since students receive different questions based on their responses, test items are more secure and can be used for a longer period of time.

Will students be using a computer to take the assessment?

Yes

Smarter Balance released an infograhic indicating the hardware and operation system requirements.

Sample Questions

Below are links to sample question for grades 3-8 and high school provided by Smarter Balanced.

English language arts/literacy

Mathematics

List of 23 states and the US territory that have selected to use the Smarter Balanced Assessments

Link to PARCC sample questions