Season’s Greetings from Woodward-Granger CSD
It is not said and or expressed nearly enough but we truly and sincerely thank everyone in our communities for supporting the Woodward- Granger Community School District and the students we serve. Without your generosity and support we would not be able to build new buildings, support existing programming and offer a well-rounded educational/extra-curricular experience for children. Thank You and Season’s Greetings from our extended family to yours.
Goodbye to Iowa Assessments
In Mid November the Iowa State Board of Education voted to eliminate the current Iowa Assessments (formerly the Iowa Test of Basic Skills).
What does this mean for W-G? Here are some facts regarding the decision.
How were the Smarter Balanced Assessments selected?
- The State Board of Education has begun an administrative rule-making process to adopt the Smarter Balanced Assessments based on the recommendation of a legislatively created task force, which studied assessment options for more than a year.
- Iowa’s Assessment Task Force agreed that the Smarter Balanced Assessments are right for Iowa for several reasons, including the assessments’ ability to generate test results that accurately reflect how students are progressing toward the expectations outlined in our state academic standards for math and reading.
When will the new assessments be administered in Iowa?
- They will be administered in schools statewide in the 2016-17 school year.
Will the Smarter Balanced Assessments cost more than the Iowa Assessments?
- Yes, although any new assessment will cost more because modern assessments are better and more comprehensive than what we have now. What’s important is to get the right assessment system for Iowa.
- Smarter Balanced is more than an annual test. It’s also a suite of resources and tools: Interim and formative assessments and a digital library of resources for teachers, including model lessons and professional development.
- In some cases, schools will see cost savings if they decide to move to formative and interim assessments through Smarter Balanced rather than buying them separately.
Will the state or school districts pay for the new assessments?
- Assessment costs in Iowa historically have been paid by a mix of state and federal dollars. It is likely that the future assessment system will also be paid for by a mix of state and federal dollars. If the Legislature appropriates funds for the Smarter Balanced Assessments, these dollars could be used to support in whole or in part the cost of the SBAC assessments.
Why does Iowa need a new state assessment?
- Iowa’s current state assessments have a long history, but it is time to update them. Iowa needs an effective measure of whether students are reaching expectations set by our state standards, which reflect the knowledge and skills students need for success in college and in the workplace.
- Iowa Code says a new state assessment must be in place by the 2016-17 school year.
Shouldn’t the Legislature have been allowed to choose the next assessment?
- Both the Legislature and the State Board of Education have legal authority to choose the state assessment, but the selection historically has been made by the State Board of Education.
- Choosing a state assessment requires expertise to ensure that it reflects our state standards and what is being taught in Iowa classrooms and also provides valid, reliable and fair measures of student progress. The State Board of Education has closely studied the assessment issue and will make the right selection for Iowa’s schools and students.
What happens if a school district is not equipped with the technology and high-speed Internet necessary to administer the Smarter Balanced Assessments?
- Many Iowa school districts are administering online assessments already, and survey data show 99 percent of Iowa’s public schools met the minimum bandwidth requirements defined by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. For a small number of schools reporting bandwidth below the minimum requirements, there will be a paper/pencil option available as an interim solution.
- There are funding sources for technology available for school districts through E-Rate (federal), PPEL (property tax), SAVE/SILO (one-cent sales tax) and the School Budget Review Committee (modified allowable growth/property tax).
Are the Smarter Balanced Assessments customizable? Can a state or district determine which questions are given?
- The interim tests are customizable at the district/ school level. The end-of-year test is computer adaptive, which means the computer program adjusts the difficulty of questions based on a student’s answers. A student who answers a question correctly will receive a more challenging item, while an incorrect answer generates an easier question. By adapting to individual students, these assessments can quickly identify which skills students have mastered. This approach represents a significant improvement over traditional paper- and-pencil assessments.
Will student data be shared with the federal government or the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium?
- No testing data will be shared with the federal government, and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium will never know how a particular student answered a question; data files will be stripped of all personally identifiable information.
- The process for securing testing data will be similar to the current process for assessments in use in Iowa schools.
Why are there longer testing times associated with the Smarter Balanced Assessments? Don’t we want to spend less time testing?
- The Smarter Balanced Assessments include one end-of-year assessment to meet federal and state accountability laws, as well as shorter, optional classroom tests that teachers can use throughout the year to check in on student progress. These formative assessments could take the place of some of the tests schools currently use.
- Schools today are challenged to manage many activities that compete for students’ limited time in school. Ideally, all activities – instruction, assignments, extra-curricular activities, assemblies, field trips and assessments – should advance student learning.
- The Smarter Balanced Assessments are untimed to limit student fatigue, and teachers may adjust testing sessions to meet student needs.
- Authentic assessment takes time. While multiple- choice tests take less time, assessments that measure complex thinking and reasoning skills require students to spend more time thinking before they provide answers – and they also provide much more feedback and information about student learning to schools, teachers and parents. This time is an important investment.
- The value of a test should be based on the information it provides, not the time it takes.
- The end-of-year test takes less than 1 percent of the student’s time in a school year.
What kind of professional development will teachers receive to give new assessments?
- The Iowa Department of Education began to work on a professional development plan after the State Board of Education began the rule-making process to adopt the Smarter Balanced Assessments. Details will be shared soon.
Why does alignment between standards and assessments matter?
- Alignment between state standards and assessments is critical. Standards provide parents, teachers and students a uniform understanding of what students need to learn at every grade level. The statewide assessment should measure students’ progress toward those standards. In Iowa, we have work to do on alignment. The current Iowa Assessments do not align with our state standards.
Brad Anderson
Superintendent
