SBAC Offers Answers to My Queries About the Common Core Tests
by Frederick M. Hess • Apr 30, 2014 at 8:47 am
Cross-posted from Education Week
Cross-posted from Education Week
A few weeks ago, I asked three questions about how confident we should be that the results of the new, quasi-national, computer-assisted Common Core tests will be valid and reliable enough to support stuff like teacher evaluation and school accountability. These are questions that I'd been publicly asking for several years with little result. I'm pleased to report that, in the last couple days, I've received serious responses from thoughtful executives at PARCC and Smarter Balanced. Today, I'm publishing the response from SBAC's Joe Wilhoft (yesterday I published the response from PARCC's Jeff Nellhaus). As I'll discuss briefly on Thursday, the responses don't fully satisfy me--I've follow-up questions and would like a few clarifications. But my primary aim was a more transparent discussion about how the Common Core effort is supposed to play out. As I've often said, we know vastly less than we should on this score. For that reason, I want to extend my appreciation to Joe and to Jeff for their constructive, reasoned responses. Here's what Joe Wilhoft, executive director at SBAC, had to say:
By Joe Wilhoft
Rick,
Your questions--along with many others--are well worth asking, and I'm providing some responses and commentary below. Before addressing your specific questions, however, I think a few general comments are in order.
At Smarter Balanced we recognize that the stakes for this project are quite high. Member states are counting on the assessments to play an integral role in their strategies to prepare all students to be college and career-ready. That's made it all the more important that our states work together to leverage their expertise in designing and implementing assessments. I believe that through our collaboration with hundreds of experts across the country, Smarter Balanced has been able to do what no single state could accomplish alone--and we are committed to getting it right.
On March 25 students in our member states began taking our Field Test. As of last Friday, we've had almost 2.4 million students complete a full mathematics and/or a full English language arts/Literacy test. Our Field Test design presents students with a fully blueprint-compliant form of an assessment, meaning schools and students can experience the full array of item types, testing time, and logistical demands.
From the beginning, Smarter Balanced has focused on creating an assessment system that provides valid, SBAC Offers Answers to My Queries About the Common Core Tests :: Frederick M. Hess:
