Both the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) consortium held separate events in Washington to update organizations on recent activities. Following are highlights of recent activity:
SBAC
On April 29, SBAC released its finalized Achievement Level Descriptors (ALDs) and College Content-Readiness Policy. The ALDs articulate the knowledge, skills, and processes expected of students at different levels of performance on the Smarter Balanced assessments and are similar to the College and Career Ready Determinations (CCRDs) developed by PARCC (For more info on PARCC's CCRDs read here and here).
In addition to the ALDs, SBAC has been pilot testing its assessments and is developing a set of formative assessment tools and resources for teachers which will be included in an online digital library to launch in 2014. State networks of educators will be charged with providing feedback and guidance on the resources. More information about the development of the Digital Library can be found here.
On April 22, Alaska joined SBAC as an Advisory state, an interesting development since Alaska was one of four states which did not adopt the Common Core State Standards. Alaska's participation in SBAC brings the total number of SBAC-participating states to 26.
PARCC
On April 30 PARCC released assessment blueprints and test specifications for both its English language arts/literacy and mathematics assessments. The materials are intended to support teachers and will include literacy rubrics to guide thinking about classroom rubric use, English Language Arts (ELA)/literacy passage selection guidelines and worksheets to guide text selection for instruction. PARCC says the tools will help teachers better understand the design of the ELA and math assessments and provide more insight into the planned reporting categories.
For more information on the assessment blueprints and test specifications, including narrated overview PowerPoints and an FAQ document, visit http://www.parcconline.org/assessment-blueprints-test-specs.
Achieve, the managing partner of PARCC, has also developed a guide titled "On the Road to Implementation: Achieving the Promise for the Common Core State Standards," for state and district policymakers to use as they implement Common Core. There are specific references to technical subjects throughout the document.
In mid-April, PARCC released its draft accommodations manual for public comment, which helps local educations select, administer and evaluate accommodations for the assessment of students with disabilities. From April 18 through May 13, 2013, the draft PARCC Accommodations Manual and a feedback survey will be posted on the PARCC website for the public to provide feedback, along with a set of Frequently Asked Questions.
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