Smarter Balanced Assessments
Why Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) created tests
New state standards are challenging students to understand subject matter more deeply, think more critically, and apply their learning to the real world. These college- and career-ready standards spell out the math, reading, and writing skills students need to learn grade-by-grade to be on a path for success after high school. Recognizing the need for better ways to measure these writing, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills, states across the country banded together to create the Smarter Balanced Assessment System. The Consortium consists of 15 states, one territory, and the Bureau of Indian Education, as well as three affiliate members.
How SBAC created their Items and Tests
The Smarter Balanced assessments were developed through collaboration with educators and administrators. Smarter Balanced assessments offer significant improvements over tests of the past, including writing at every grade, more open-ended questions instead of multiple choice, and questions that allow students to demonstrate real research, writing, and problem-solving skills. Taking advantage of the power of technology, the assessments also feature state-of-the-art accommodations for students with varied learning abilities.
Smarter Balanced was developed by teachers for students. More than 4,700 educators contributed to the creation of the Smarter Balanced system. Teachers contributed at each step of the development of Smarter Balanced, from helping to write the actual test questions, to creating the tools in its Digital Library, to deciding the appropriate achievement levels to show a student has met the standards.
How Long is an SBAC Assessment?
Times are estimates of test length for most students based on the time it took students to complete the Smarter Balanced Pilot and Field Tests. Smarter Balanced assessments are designed as untimed tests; some students may need and should be afforded more time, and others may need less time than shown in this table. Check your state Department of Education website for additional details.
SBAC Recommendations for Districts
Times are estimates of test length for most students based on the time it took students to complete the Smarter Balanced Pilot and Field Tests. Smarter Balanced assessments are designed as untimed tests; some students may need and should be afforded more time, and others may need less time than shown in this table. Check your state Department of Education website for additional details.
- Students Benefit from Taking Interims
- Teachers Use Interim Assessment Data to Improve Instruction
- Adults Learn First, Then Help Students
- Using the Assessment System Is a Team Effort
- Sustainable Teams Continuously Improve
- Communicate Early and Often
- Transform Classroom Learning by Embracing Instructional Shifts
- Accessibility Resources Let All Students Demonstrate Their Knowledge
Schools and districts across the country are giving interims to prepare for SBAC using Edcite Schools
Why Edcite Improves SBAC Scores
#1 Prepare Students for SBAC Test Format
With Edcite, students experience navigating and completing a digital assessment. With Edcite Schools, students can practice with an SBAC-Aligned viewer that mirrors the navigation and tools that look exactly like the state test. This can help students build familiarity with navigation and tools that they will need to use on the state test.
SBAC Navigation on Practice Test
Edcite SBAC-Aligned Viewer
Edcite SBAC-aligned viewer also has many of the same tools that students can use on SBAC. A short list is below:
- Text to Speech (TTS)
- Ruler
- Calculators - basic, scientific and graphing
- Masking Tool
- Bookmark / Flag question
- Answer Eliminator
- Line Reader
- Audio Recording for instructions and more
Want to try the SBAC Viewer for free? Participate in SBAC Common Assessments to try out this viewer with your students. If you want your school or district to have access to the SBAC Viewer year round for any assessment, learn more about Edcite Schools.
With Edcite, Teachers can find and send quality content to students. We believe that teachers should not have to pay for premium features, so we offer live progress tracking and reports by question and by standard for free for all teachers. To try out Edcite with your class, click Sign Up or choose one of the assignments to the right.
#2 Prepare Students for Tech-Enhanced Question Types
Digital assessments present new opportunities for how to assess students. Practice throughout the year with these question types can prepare students for effective problem solving strategies. Below is a list of tech-enhanced question types that are on SBAC with some details about Edcite features that teachers in SBAC states are using to prepare their students. For a full list of item types and details on their scoring, click here .
- Multiple Choice - Presents students with a number of answer options. The student may select only one option.
- Multi Select - Presents students with a number of answer options. The student may select one or more options.
- Short Answer- Has a text box for a response area and requires a keyboard entry of alphanumeric characters.
- Equation - The Equation item type has one or more text boxes for a response area and a key pad containing mathematical characters. The student enters an equation or numerical answer into the text box using the key pad or keyboard.
- Writing Extended Response - Specify character count and tools available to students when writing an essay. Add a rubric to make for easier grading.
- Matching Item - Requires students to match text or images in rows to values in columns. The student selects the boxes where a match is valid.
- Multi-Part Items - Use Edcite to set up part A/B scoring for multipart questions.
- Grid - Drag and Drop - This item type requires students to click on a single element or multiple elements and drag-and-drop the element(s) into a background image.
- Evidence-based Selected Response - Two part multiple choice question where students answer a question in part A and find supporting evidence in part B.
- Grid - Drag and Drop - This item type requires students to plot points and/or draw lines.
- Hot Text - Includes words or phrases that students can either select (highlight) by clicking or rearrange by clicking and dragging.
- Table Item - Requires a keyboard entry into table cells.
Edcite has over 50 item types to match all of the SBAC item types and more. Students can practice with these question types on Edcite and teachers can create their own question types.
#3 Actionable Data for Educators in SBAC states to help students grow
We believe that teachers should not have to pay for premium features, so we offer live progress tracking and reports by question and by state standard and Common Core standard for free for all teachers. To try out Edcite with your class, click Sign Up or choose to Assign one of the assignments to the right.
#4 Drive School and District Growth with Edcite Schools
Edcite Schools empowers Schools, Districts, and teams to give assessments that align to the state test in their look and feel, share data and respond to the data by creating intervention groups. To learn more, click on Edcite Schools above.
Authoring SBAC-aligned Questions and Tests
Edcite is not just a library of assessments and questions, it is also an authoring tool. Teachers can create questions and assignments for free. With Edcite Schools, districts can create content collaboratively and send across schools and classes. A full list of aligned SBAC resources is below, you can use Edcite to create your own versions of these questions.
Looking for some inspiration on your content creation? The Edcite Team has digitized a set of practice tests on Edcite. You can copy and customize any of the questions in these assignments. This is a great way to get started creating aligned content on Edcite.