 development and implementation of the assessments, as well as professional development activities.
Item and Task Types
The Smarter Balanced assessment system includes a variety of item types. Smarter Balanced is exploring different response options for mathematics problems, including innovative uses of tablet technology. The response formats included in the sample items will be updated based on findings from cognitive labs and small scale trials being conducted this fall, as well as additional information gathered during pilot testing in early 2013.
- Selected-response items prompt students to select one or more responses for a set of options.
- Technology-enhanced items take advantage of computer-based administration to assess a deeper understanding of content and skills than would otherwise be possible with traditional item types. Technology-enhanced items capitalize on technology to collect evidence through a non-traditional response type, such as editing text or drawing an object. Selected-response and technology-enhanced items can be scored automatically.
- Constructed-response items prompt students to produce a text or numerical response in order to collect evidence about their knowledge or understanding of a given assessment target.
- Performance tasksmeasure a student’s ability to integrate knowledge and skills across multiple standards—a key component of college and career readiness. Performance tasks will be used to better measure capacities such as depth of understanding, research skills, and complex analysis, which cannot be adequately assessed with selected- or constructed-response items. Some constructed-response items and performance tasks can be scored automatically; many will be hand-scored by professionally trained readers.These tasks will be delivered as part of the interim and summative components of the assessment system, with more extended tasks available in the digital library as part of the Smarter Balanced-developed exemplar instructional modules and inventory of currently available resources. The time and resource constraints for each performance task will be guided by its placement in the overall assessment system.Smarter Balanced has a comprehensive research agenda. During the spring 2013 pilot, the Consortium will research the effects of including a brief classroom interaction phase in the summative performance task on accessibility and standardization. The classroom interaction phase will then be appropriately constrained for performance tasks depending on the intended use and placement within the overall Smarter Balanced assessment system.
Accessibility and Accommodations
Smarter Balanced assessments will provide valid, fair, and reliable measures of achievement and growth for English language learners and students with disabilities. Working with member states, educators, and experts in the field, the Consortium is developing a variety of accessibility tools and accommodations options to allow virtually all students to demonstrate what they know and can do.
The sample items do not display the full array of accessibility and accommodations features that will be included in the operational assessment system—including tools to address visual, auditory, and physical access barriers, as well as the unique needs of English language learners. Over the next several months—guided by the Consortium’s Accessibility and Accommodations Work Group and advisory committees for English language learners and students with disabilities—Smarter Balanced will finalize the accessibility tools and accommodations options available through the test interface.
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