+ Smarter Balanced Assessment Family Friday April 10 th, 2015

+ Testing at Barnard 3 rd -6 th Grades English Language Arts – May Math – May 18-20

+ Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) Computer adaptive testing adjusts to a student’s ability by basing the difficulty of future questions on previous answers, providing more accurate measurement of student achievement, particularly for high and low-performing students. This approach represents a significant improvement over traditional paper-and-pencil assessments used in many states today.

+ Performance Task (PT) Performance tasks challenge students to apply their knowledge and skills to respond to real-world problems. They can best to described as collections of questions and activities that are coherently connected to a single theme or scenario. These activities are meant to measure capacities such as depth of understanding, research skills, and complex analysis, which cannot be adequately assessed with selected- or constructed-response items.

+ Math Number of Items Estimated Time CAT3190 min PT660 min

+ ELA Number of Items Estimated Time CAT4490 min PT4120 min

+ Performance Task (Sample) G3 ELA Student Directions Astronauts Informational Performance Task Task: Your class has been learning about different types of jobs to prepare for your school’s job week. Your teacher has asked each person to learn about a different job. You think being an astronaut must be an interesting job so you decide to learn about what it is like to be an astronaut. You have found two sources about being an astronaut.

+ Performance Task (Sample) Con’d After you have reviewed these sources, you will answer some questions about them. Briefly scan the sources and the three questions that follow. Then go back and read the sources carefully so you will have the information you will need to answer the questions and complete your research. You may click on the Global Notes button to take notes on the information you find in the sources you read. You may also use scratch paper to take notes. In part 2, you will write an informational article using information you have read.

+ Performance Task (Sample) Con’d Directions for beginning Research Questions Source #1 : Article “What is an Astronaut?” Source #2: Article “Life in Space.” Assignments: Work on three questions 1. Match the source of ideas listed. 2. Answer questions and explain. 3. Explain why it is hard to be an astronaut.

+ Practice Test Click on Sign in, no password needed.