Smarter Updates

Learn more about Smarter Balanced’s latest assessment resources and releases, and updates around supports available to schools, districts, and member states.

Illustrations of women reading, instructing, working, presenting, leading.

Tools for Teachers Lessons Help Celebrate Female Voices

Tools for Teachers provides ELA lessons that focus on research/inquiry (claim 4), and analyzing information/sources (target 3). The topics are interesting too–think dangerous ocean animals and exploring why it rains (a question every kid asks at some point!). 

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Smarter Balanced Releases Two New Instructional Supports Videos

New Smarter Balanced video releases provide closer look at Tools for Teachers and Smarter Content Explorer websites, adding to the full Instructional Supports series.

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A young female science student holds a beaker.

Tools for Teachers Instructional Resources Support STEM Learning

Tools for Teachers provides ELA lessons that focus on research/inquiry (claim 4), and analyzing information/sources (target 3). The topics are interesting too–think dangerous ocean animals and exploring why it rains (a question every kid asks at some point!). 

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A student wearing a mask calculates equations on a large white board. Text reads: "2020 in Review: Supporting Teaching and Learning During and Unprecedented Year"

Smarter Balanced Year in Review 2020

Supporting Teaching and Learning During an Unprecedented Year What a year! Looking back at 2020 comes with mixed emotions, but the truth is, Smarter Balanced made big strides in supporting educators at a time when they needed it most.   Classroom teaching became remote learning and teachers had to quickly adjust to this new reality. Together with students…

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Learn to Score Student Writing the SmART Way!

New Smarter Annotated Response Tool (SmART) Now Available Smarter Balanced worked with educators to create the Smarter Annotated Response Tool (SmART), a dynamic tool that supports educators in understanding how student writing is scored on Smarter Balanced assessments. Educators can use SmART to explore how different student responses are scored across the grade levels and writing…

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Illustration of teachers sitting at a table talking with logos and Smarter Balanced tools floating around them.

Ten Smarter Tools for Ten Years

Smarter Balanced Celebrates a Decade of Supporting Educators Building web-based applications to support teaching has been part of Smarter Balanced’s mission from the beginning. We heard loud and clear that high-quality assessment requires equally high-quality support in the classroom to ensure student learning goals are aligned with state academic standards. The challenging work of teaching…

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Watercolor illustration of a teacher standing in front of a chalkboard that says, "10 Years Smarter." Students sit at desks and stand nearby, some raising their hands.

Celebrating 10 Years of Collaboration

Smarter Balanced Honors Consortium Members and Educators for their Dedication to Developing High-Quality Measurement Tools and Instructional Supports Thank you, educators! As we celebrate Smarter Balanced’s 10th anniversary, we honor your work and the collaboration of hundreds of educators to build a fair, accurate system to measure what our students know and can do.  And…

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Smarter Balanced Year in Review 2019.

Smarter Balanced Year in Review 2019

Supporting Educators and Students at a Whole New Level This was a busy year—and decade—at Smarter Balanced! We’ll ring out the “teens” invigorated by our commitment to improving learning outcomes for students. And in June, we’ll celebrate our 10th anniversary, when states and territories banded together to develop our world-class assessment system.  In 2019, we released a suite of…

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Top 5 Instructional Resources Created by Educators, for Educators for American Education Week

Top 5 Instructional Resources Created by Educators, for Educators

NOTE: The Smarter Balanced Digital Library was decommissioned. Please visit Tools for Teachers, the new home for instructional resources and professional learning. 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…

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Top Ten Instructional Resources for the Scariest Week of the School Year.

Top Ten Instructional Resources for the Scariest Week of the School Year

NOTE: The Smarter Balanced Digital Library was decommissioned. Please visit Tools for Teachers, the new home for instructional resources and professional learning. 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,…

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