Resources to Use in the Classroom for American Education Week (and All Year Long!) November 18-22 is American Education Week. Thank you to all the teachers who make a difference every day in the classroom. To celebrate, we are featuring …
Top Ten Instructional Resources for the Scariest Week of the School Year
From Amontillado to Zombie, the Digital Library has you covered A-Z A round up of creepy, scary, monster-filled Smarter Balanced Digital Library Instructional Resources perfect for classroom use during Halloween week. “Monster” Capitalization Rules (ELA, Grade 3) This lesson …
Smarter Content Explorer: Easy-to-Use Tool for Educators
Smarter Content Explorer Website Shows How Smarter Balanced Assesses Academic Standards Smarter Content Explorer is now available! This easy-to-navigate Website helps teachers interpret student results by understanding the claims, targets, and standards that are being assessed. The new website includes …
Letter to The Editor: Response to Commentary in Education Week
Testing Consortium Responds: ‘We Couldn’t Agree More’ Recently, Education Week published a commentary by Gregory Cizek, a professor of educational measurement and evaluation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The commentary, “The Widening Gulf Between Large-Scale and …
PACE Study in California Assesses Smarter Balanced for College Success
New Study of UC & CSU Students Finds Smarter Balanced Test is Comparable Indicator of College Success The Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) research center has released a new study called, “Predicting College Success: How Do Different High School …
New Starting Smarter Website Launches
Resources to Help Parents Understand Score Reports and to Boost Learning at Home Last week, Smarter Balanced released the new Starting Smarter Website, which helps parents of children in grades 3-8 and high school use state score reports to better understand …
Three Tools to Help You (and Your Students) Get to Know the Summative Test
Training Test, Practice Test, and Sample Items and When to Use Them Elizabeth Johnston, Guest Blogger English Language Arts Teacher (7th Grade) With all the different tools and resources available to help us get familiar with the summative test, it …
Interims + Playlists + Digital Library = Powerful Instruction
How to Use Assessment Data to Identify Gaps in Learning Elizabeth Johnston, Guest Blogger English Language Arts Teacher (7th Grade) We are getting into testing season and everyone wants to make sure their kids have learned what they need to …
Educators Gather in Portland, OR to Build Instructional Resources
State Network of Educators Winter Workshop Provides Professional Development, Networking Over 120 educators from across 11 Smarter Balanced member states and territories recently met in Portland, OR to develop and review instructional classroom resources at the State Network of Educators …
5 Ways to Make Interims a Natural Part of Instruction
Elizabeth Johnston, Guest Blogger English Language Arts Teacher (7th Grade) Have you used interim assessment blocks (IABs) with your students? Do you use them as a common assessment with your team to identify student needs? Or maybe your district uses …