Opinion: High Standards and Better Tests Help Students Improve

A new opinion piece by Scott Sargrad and Coleton Whitaker of the Center for American Progress highlights the fact that states that have maintained high standards and better assessments, like Smarter Balanced, have showed gains in the second year of score reporting. And most impressively, third-grade scores across the board are up. Those students have learned under higher standards since…

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Washington Releases New Online Score Guide

Washington became the second state to release a new online test score guide to help families and students better understand what scores mean. Information is available for Smarter Balanced tests in grades 3-8 and high school in math and English language arts. Earlier this year, California released its online score guide based on the California Assessment of Student Performance…

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4 Diverse Oregon High Schools Rise to Top

The Oregonian newspaper examined Smarter Balanced scores throughout the state and discovered four Oregon high schools that “outperformed the rest.” The reason? The schools’ dedication to teaching Common Core State Standards in math and English language arts. An excerpt of the story is below, and you can read the full version at The Oregonian’s website: Four Oregon high…

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Montana Educators: ‘Thrill’ to Be a Part of Item Review Process

Two educators from Cut Bank Public Schools in Montana reflected on their experience participating in a three-day Smarter Balanced item review conference this summer. Educators from all over the nation met to review items in math and English language arts. In an article appearing in the Cut Bank Pioneer Press, Cut Bank Middle School Principal Gail Hofstad wrote…

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