1. Unpacking Smarter Balanced Score Reports
Delaware Quick Start Guide
This presentation is for educators to understand the key elements of the new score reports for the Smarter Balanced summative assessment.

2. Resources for Educators
Slides showing the key elements of the score report
Facilitator’s script in the slide notes
Quick Start Guide Booklet with additional resources linked from the Digital Library
In this presentation, there are three types of resources for educators: 1) slides showing sections of the score report, 2) notes on the slides for a facilitator to narrate the slide presentation, and 3) a Quick Start Guide that gives more information about the topic and has links to 15 minute interactive modules in the Digital Library.

3. What Will Results Look Like?
The Scale Score is the student’s score on the test. Scores can be between 2000 and 3000; the range varies by grade.
The Achievement Level shows if the student met the standards for the grade (Level 3 and above). This also shows how the student score compares to school, district, and state.
There are three main pieces of information on the Student Score Report.
First, the Scale Score is a number between 2000 and 3000.
Second, the Achievement Level (formerly known as Proficiency Level) shows if the student has met the standards for the grade. (Level 3 and above). In this graphic you will also see how the student’s score compares to the average score for other students in the school, district, and state at the same grade and subject.
Finally, you will see information on the student’s strengths and areas of growth on skills within the subject. We will learn more about each of these areas in the following slides. The reports provide actionable information that can be used to address student needs.
Here is information
on student strengths
and areas of growth within the subject.

4. Scale Scores
The scores range between 2000 and Each year, the score ranges increase. So, a student who is progressing on track should have the scale score increase each year.
Scale scores were calculated for each student using the formula established by Smarter Balanced. This range is meant to be distinctly different from score ranges on other common assessments (SAT, scale, etc.) It also provides enough room to have scores that can grow in the same scale from 3rd through 11th grade in all proficiency levels
The scale has cut scores to divide performance into four levels that vary for each grade. This year’s student score is a baseline and will be used to calculate the student’s growth on the scale next year. The overall score comes from the whole ELA/Literacy test—the Computer Adaptive Test (on the computer) and the performance task (written). In the next slides we will unpack the skills that were tested in each area.
To improve to Level 3, Jolyne needs to improve her performance by 56+ scale score points in 11th grade.

5. Specific Areas, or “Claims” for ELA/Literacy
Four specific claims for ELA/Literacy
These statements describe the student’s strengths and areas of growth.
ELA/Literacy has 4 claim areas (subject areas) that cover all of the ELA/Literacy Standards in the Common Core State Standards. Language standards are assessed in Reading, Writing, and Speaking and Listening. Research/Inquiry covers standards related to research in Reading and Writing. All of the questions are based on specific Common Core State Standards.
The importance of comparing a student score to other students at the grade, district, and state is to understand whether to focus improvements on the curriculum learned by all students or to fill gaps in learning for particular students.
These statements describe the skills being assessed.

6. CLAIMS/AREAS Achievement Descriptions
Above Standard means: Good progress above grade-level expectations for this area
At or Near Standard means: Adequate progress toward grade-level expectations for this area
Below Standard means: Little progress toward grade-level expectations for this area
The achievement description for each claim is represented with the icon showing Above Standard, At or Near Standard, or Below Standard.
These performance descriptions give you general information to indicate areas of strength or areas of growth. There are too few questions in each area to determine a specific score for each sub-area. These indicators help you focus assistance to students.
Students who achieve above standards are ready for extended learning and challenging tasks that may go beyond grade-level standards. Students who are at or near grade-level standards are making adequate progress, but they may not be able to apply their understanding to difficult tasks. They would benefit from more opportunities in application and extended thinking. When students are below standard, it is important to build on their prior knowledge to fill gaps while working toward grade-level mastery.

7. ELA/Literacy Key Skills for Reading
In Reading, students should be able to:
Understand the purpose of every word.
Understand and find evidence to support the author’s point of view.
Read grade-level fiction, drama, or poetry.
Read grade-level articles and essays from science, social studies, technical careers, and the arts.
Students Below Standard have difficulty doing these things and need extra support.
The reading test increases the emphasis on informational text at the upper grades, consistent with the Common Core State Standards. The passages presented to students represent the types of reading expected for the grade level in the length and complexity of the passage. Students answer questions about various elements of the passages and cite evidence to support their answers.

8. ELA/Literacy Key Skills for Writing
In Writing students should be able to:
Write narration, information/explanations, opinions/arguments (based on grade).
Write in clear and concise language with grade-level conventions.
Use effective organization and elaboration.
Use evidence to support claims from credible sources.
Write to a specific audience from a real-world scenario.
Students write short paragraphs and a long essay to demonstrate their writing skills. The untimed test allows students to plan, organize, write, edit, revise, and polish their writing. Real-world scenarios using more than one type of writing have been prepared for grade level performance tasks, so students need to be prepared for all three types—narration, explanation/information, or opinion/argument (based on the grade level).

9. ELA/Literacy Key Skills for Speaking and Listening
In Speaking and Listening students should be able to:
Understand the central idea and key details.
Summarize what is heard.
Ask and answer questions about the information.
Evaluate the evidence.
Students At or Near Standard are making adequate progress, but they need support with extended learning and difficult tasks.
Only listening is tested on the summative assessment. Students listen to three audio files and answer questions about each presentation to demonstrate their understanding and ability to evaluate the information. The audio files have American Sign Language video translations.

10. ELA/Literacy Key Skills for Research/Inquiry
In Research/Inquiry students should be able to:
Complete a short research project with 3–5 digital and print sources.
Answer questions to analyze the credibility and accuracy of the information.
Integrate evidence from sources to support the central idea without using plagiarism.
Research/Inquiry is a critical skill for college- and career-ready performance. The standards tested in the research/inquiry questions come from writing, reading informational text, and literacy in history/social science, science, and careers.

11. Mathematics
The mathematics score report follows the same format as the ELA/Literacy report on Slide 3. The importance of comparing a student score to other students at the grade, district, and state is to understand whether to focus improvements on the curriculum learned by all students or to fill gaps in learning for particular students.
Full Spanish translations and glossaries in 10 languages and dialects are available for students to increase their access to the test questions.

12. The cut scores are higher in math
Scale Scores
Level Level Level Level 4
The cut scores are higher in math
The scale scores for mathematics are on the same 2000–3000 scale but have different cut scores than ELA/Literacy. These performance levels were based on the performance of students across all Smarter Balanced states on the 2014 Field Test.
To improve to Level 3, Jolyne needs to improve her performance by 83+ scale score points in 11th grade.

13. Specific Claims for Mathematics
Three specific claims for Mathematics
These statements describe the student’s strengths and areas of growth.
The mathematics claim areas cover the content standards and standards for mathematical practice in the Common Core State Standards. Each grade level emphasizes the specific math topics that are the focus for the grade as well as builds on prior knowledge to demonstrate skills in Standards of Mathematical Practice.
These statements describe the skills being assessed.

14. Mathematics Key Skills for Concepts and Procedures
For Concepts and Procedures students should be able to:
Recognize a pattern or structure.
See expressions as objects.
Notice if calculations are repeated.
Explain why procedures work the way they do.
Pay attention to details and check the reasonableness of their results.
Meet grade level expectations for automatic computation.
Grade specific concepts and procedures make up about 50% of the test. Students have various ways to respond to questions to increase the opportunity to show what they know. The 11th grade test covers the standards in grades 9, 10, and 11.

15. Mathematics Key Skills for Problem Solving; Modeling and Data Analysis
In Problem Solving; Modeling and Data Analysis students should be able to:
Solve problems in pure and applied mathematics.
Recognize a common pathway or develop a new strategy for an uncommon problem.
Use background information and data from a real-world problem to design a solution and build a mathematical model to show relationships between the variables.
Check similar problems and compare results.
Change the strategy if necessary.
Problem Solving; Modeling and Data Analysis covers solving common and uncommon problems that test the student’s ability to put critical strategies to work. Common problems have a clear pathway that students should recognize and execute accurately. Uncommon problems in a real-world scenario may have many solution options. Students demonstrate data analysis and mathematical modeling to solve the problem and explain the basis for their conclusions.

16. Mathematics Key Skills for Communicating Reasoning
In Communicating Reasoning students are able to:
Provide a justification, explanation, or counter example for a proposed solution.
Be precise in their deductions.
Present a logical sequence of conclusions.
Identify gaps or flaws in an argument.
In this area students make a claim and justify the solution with evidence. The questions in this area focus on the logical progression of the student’s conclusions or ability to pick apart gaps in the evidence. Often these questions are part of a set of questions in a performance task where the student presents the rationale for the solution strategy and outlines the steps to arrive at the solution.

17. A Balanced Assessment System
Summative assessments
Benchmarked to college and career readiness
Common Core State Standards specify
K–12 expectations for college and career readiness
All students leave high school college and career ready
Teachers and schools have information and tools they need to improve teaching and learning
The summative assessment is only one part of the Smarter Balanced Assessment System. The formative assessment process in daily classroom learning and interim assessments to check on progress complete the system of assessment. Educators are able to use the summative results as a “snapshot” of the student’s performance at a single point in time. Daily classroom instruction provides additional evidence for the complete picture of student learning during the school year.
Teacher resources for
formative assessment practices
to improve instruction
Interim assessments Flexible, open, used for actionable feedback