1. Implications of the Smarter Balanced Assessment for College Readiness and Math Placement
William S. Moore, Ph.D., Policy Associate, SBCTC
Director, Core to College Alignment & Transition Mathematics Project
What do you know about the Common Core State Standards & the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium?
How has your program or department been involved in these efforts up to now?

2. Common Core State Standards
Clear, consistent, rigorous standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics
Knowledge and skills needed for college and career success
Developed voluntarily and cooperatively by states with input from teachers and college faculty
Clear College-Readiness. This initiative presents an opportunity to level the field and clearly define the foundation of academic standards by which all students should know and be able to do during their K-12 experience.
Consistent. Prior to the CCSS, 50 state had 50 difference set of academic standards, with 50 different means for assessment.
Cost-effective: States are pooling resources and expertise to implement the standards. In addition to the opportunities it presents for aligned instructional resources, and consistency for mobile students and teachers, the CCSS provides great opportunity to leverage and align resources to support implementation.
Source:

3. What You Probably Didn’t Know…
“Obama Core is a comprehensive plan to dumb down schoolchildren so they will be obedient servants of the government and probably to indoctrinate them to accept the leftwing view of America and its history.”
Phyllis Schafly, October 2012,
cited by Benjamin Riley, New Schools Venture Fund, “Common Core-spiracy”

4. Major Shifts in the CCSS: “Fewer, Higher, Clearer, Deeper”
Focus: Focus strongly where the standards focus.
Coherence: Think across grades and link to major topics.
Rigor: In major topics, pursue conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application.
Rigor of HS coursework best single predictor of postsecondary performance
Major shifts based on expert disciplinary advice and latest learning research
Away from “mile wide, inch deep” approach in math
These are not only things I’m (we’re) telling you, these are things I’m (we’re) asking you to tell other people. These are what you need to be fighting for. These are what you need to be thinking about when a speaker at a workshop or a publisher or even members of your district tell you about CCSS – you can test their message against these things. You can test anyone’s message against these touchstones. They are meant to be succinct, and easy to remember; we’ll discuss them each in turn.

5. Traditional U.S. ApproachK
Number and Operations
Measurement and Geometry
Algebra and Functions
Statistics and Probability
This slide represents another visualization of how U.S standards used to be arranged, giving equal importance to all four areas - like “shopping aisles.” Each grade goes up and down the aisles, tossing topics into the cart, losing focus.
There is no disagreement, for example, that the most critical area of mathematics in K-2 is numbers and operations. However, whether looking at typical state standards or typical curriculum that followed, numbers and operations was just one concept among many that was included.
The Common Core State Standards is a set of standards that allow teachers to do what they know they need to in order to support the further development of their students: concentrate on fewer, powerful concepts and then build on those.

6. Focusing Attention Within Number and Operations
Operations and Algebraic Thinking
Expressions and Equations
Algebra →
Number and Operations— Base Ten
The Number System
Number and Operations—Fractions K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
High School
The CCSS takes the first strand from the last slide (Number and Operations) and expands it to show the relevance and progression of number and operations from K-12. You can see that the one "shopping aisle" or strand of Number and Operations from previous states standards is now split into 5 domains across the K-8 grade span, communicating exactly what is being learned at each grade and clarifying how that learning prepares the students for future studies.
Number and Operations

7. Standards for Mathematical Practices
Bill McCallum, U of AZ

8. Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium
GOVERNANCE: A state-led consortium with equal representation across member states
ECONOMIES OF SCALE: High-quality assessments beyond what any single state can afford
APPLES-to-APPLES: Equivalent levels of rigor across all member states
STATE FLEXIBILITY: Different packages of “core” and “optional” services available to meet state needs
25 member states (21 governing 4 advisory)
Washington is fiscal agent
WestEd provides project management services

9. A Balanced Assessment System
Summative assessments
Benchmarked to college and career readiness
Teachers and schools have information and tools they need to improve teaching and learning
Common Core State Standards specify
K-12 expectations for college and career readiness
All students leave high school college and career ready
Rigorous assessments of progress toward “college and career readiness”
Information about grade-level achievement and growth
Administered online, using multiple item formats
(paper/pencil option for 3 years)
Valid, reliable, and fair for all students (except those with “significant cognitive disabilities”)
Fully operational in school year
Teacher resources for
formative assessment practices
to improve instruction
Interim assessments Flexible, open, used for actionable feedback

10. OSPI Proposal… Summative Assessments in 2014–15 and beyond
English/LA
Mathematics
Science
(no change)
Grade 3
SBAC
Grade 4
Grade 5
MSP
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Grades10
Comprehensive
exit exam
EOC Year 1
EOC Biology
Grade 11
SBAC=SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium
MSP= Measurements of Student Progress
EOC= End of Course exams
Decision still pending in Legislature
grade 11 “pass rates” will plummet if SB is used as HS grad requirement; would need separate, lower cut score

11. Questions Being Addressed by the Core to College Project
Do the Common Core State Standards and Smarter Balanced assessment represent a definition of college- and career-readiness that works for higher education?
Specifically, how will the 11th grade assessment results be used?
11 states: Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington
Serve as models for other states, showing how to foster long-term collaborations between state higher education and K-12 entities
Expected to align work with implementation plans for the Common Core State Standards and either the PARCC or SMARTER Balanced assessments
Why should higher ed be involved?
Common Core State Standards anchored in expectations for college readiness
Opportunity to improve college readiness, reduce remediation, and boost completion
Formal agreement when states applied for federal grant with goal of recognizing Grade 11 exam as evidence of college readiness

12. 1. Definition of College Readiness
Faculty Review Group consensus (both math and English):
Standards generally reflect a clear and solid notion of college readiness for entry-level courses in their disciplines
Preliminary review of Smarter Balanced details and sample items encouraging, but need to see full assessment
Math and English faculty, both CTC and baccalaureate reps plus some K-12 experts in Common Core
Met several times in person and via the web, meeting again next week to discuss latest updates in terms of policy framework, resources for teachers, etc.

13. 2. Use of the 11th Grade Assessment
Strengthen 12th Grade “Launch Year”
Encourage Dual Credit courses for students who are college-ready
Provide targeted curriculum for students who are not yet college-ready
Serve as College Readiness Indicator
Full or conditional exemption from developmental course work when entering college
Considered as another possible “data point” in admissions review
Incorporated into minimum admission standards?

14. Policy Framework for Grade 11 Assessment Results
Not Yet Content-Ready - Substantial Support Needed
K-12 & higher education may offer interventions
Level 1
Not Yet Content-Ready – Support Needed
Transition courses or other supports for Grade 12, retesting option
Level 2
Conditionally Content-Ready/Exempt from Developmental
In each state, K-12 and higher ed jointly develop Grade 12 requirements to earn exemption
Level 3
Content-Ready/Exempt from Developmental
In each state, K-12 and higher education may jointly set Grade 12 requirements to retain exemption
Level 4
Note: Applies only to students who matriculate directly from high school to college.

15. Responding to the Policy Framework
What evidence would you need to see about the assessment to give you confidence about its value as a college readiness indicator?
Assuming the assessment is valuable, what would be a reasonable expectation of evidence of continued learning in grade 12 for level 3 students to earn an exemption from precollege math?

16. Key Clarifications of Proposed Framework
Support for Emerging Approaches to Developmental Ed: Colleges are free to permit students who score below the college content-readiness standard to enroll in credit-bearing courses
Multiple Measures of Content-Readiness: Fully supports the use of multiple measures to determine student course placement
Recommended “Cut Scores”: To be set summer 2014 after pilot and field testing
Participation agreement: No later than January 2015
Score Expiration: Scores only valid for students who matriculate directly from high school to college
Limitations: which courses qualify for exemption/placement
Admissions: (institutions could choose to include the Smarter Balanced score in their admission evaluations)
Cut scores: K-12 and higher education representatives will jointly determine recommended cut-scores for each achievement level on the Grade 11 assessments
Participation agreement: in time for First full official administration: spring 2015

17. Higher Education After Smarter Balanced: What Won’t Change?
High school graduation requirements
Admission standards
Most course placement (especially STEM students)
Developmental education reform
Some states may use the Smarter Balanced assessment items—with a lower performance standard—for high school exit, but no states currently plan to use the college content-readiness standard for this purpose.
Colleges will continue to admit students according to their current standards and practices – the college content-readiness policy applies only to admitted students.
While honoring the exemption from developmental education for students who have earned it, colleges may use tests (and/or other means) to determine appropriate course placement, especially STEM: Colleges will need to assess additional evidence for students seeking to enter more advanced mathematics courses.
Colleges can continue to place any student into credit-bearing courses. Grades-only placement policies are unaffected.

18. Core to College Timetable
Refine parameters based on pilot test
College and system group engagement (Fall 2013-Winter 2014)
Cross-sector summit gathering (Spring 2014)
Confirm SB participation commitment (January 2015)
Review and endorse proposal
Develop specific proposal for SB use in higher education
System and institutional review (Fall 2014)
Summit: presidents, provosts, school superintendents
Core to College Timetable

19. Resources www.achievethecore.org www.illustrativemathematics.org
commoncoretools.me
frameworks
education/common-core-state- standards-tools-resources/

20. Questions?
For more details about Core to College in Washington, see
Slides and handouts available at