While most students are in the middle of taking the new Common Core-aligned
tests, some early results of the first Smarter Balanced assessments are
starting to trickle into districts.
District and school officials can begin looking at the scores and use them
to make decisions about instruction, class placements and parent discussions
, said Keric Ashley, deputy superintendent of the District, School, and
Innovation branch of the California Department of Education. The first
preliminary student scores for early test takers went out May 4.
“These are reports that are intended to help schools and districts,”
Ashley said at the State Board of Education meeting on May 6.
California students for the first time are taking the new exams based on the
nationally developed Common Core State Standards. These preliminary results
could give school officials a first glimpse of how well students are
learning the standards.
As of May 8, about 2.65 million students had started the Smarter Balanced
tests, out of more than 3 million students in the state who are scheduled to
take it in 3rd through 8th grades and 11th grade. California is one of 18
states giving the Smarter Balanced assessments.
Because the assessments are online, the results are much quicker to score,
compared to previous paper-and-pen tests. Results of the previous California
Standards Tests and other standardized tests were sent to districts in the
summer.
Districts are expected to get preliminary results about four weeks after
students complete the tests. With the early scoring, the goal was to get
information to teachers and school administrators quickly enough to figure
out what students need and how to best teach them.
But some parents, the public and possibly teachers might end up waiting
nearly as long as before to see how students performed. Some districts may
distribute scores to parents and teachers in the summer or possibly the
beginning of the next school year.
The California Department of Education is telling districts to wait until
August to release scores to the general public, which is the same time the
state will publicize the full results, according to a PowerPoint
presentation on May 4.
Most students are now in the middle of taking the test, Ashley said. The
testing window began March 10 and can end as late as the last day of school,
which sometimes goes into late June.
Of the six large school districts and the charter school chain EdSource is
following as they implement the Common Core, only two had received
preliminary scores as of late last week. The Los Angeles Unified School
District, the state’s largest with 646,000 students, also had yet to get
any results.
Officials in both Garden Grove and Visalia unified school districts were
surprised when the scores came in, and they are figuring out next steps.
“We weren’t expecting it this early,” said Amy Stevens, a spokeswoman for
Garden Grove Unified, which has about 46,000 students in Southern
California.
Garden Grove officials still plan to give scores to teachers when they
return to school in the fall, as they have always done, Stevens said.
“Because we have so little information and so few scores, we are not
actively using them to examine instruction. That will come when we have the
complete set of scores and can work with our administrators and teachers,”
Stevens said in an email. “We’re not comfortable using anything until they
’re the final scores.”
In Visalia, with 28,000 students in Central California, district officials
had yet to figure out how to immediately use the early scores, said Doug
Bartsch, assistant superintendent.
As of last week, Visalia had received 102 scores in 6th, 7th and 8th grades
in a district with about 14,000 test takers.
“This early availability of results was new news to us this (last) week and
we are still thinking through how best to work with information,” Bartsch
said in an email.
This summer, Visalia plans to use its usual two-day professional development
session before school starts to go over test results, Bartsch said.
Ashley said the electronic system would be updated nightly. So it’s
possible for a school to receive results for one student, but receive
results on a different day for another student who was tested at the same
time.
The first results ready for release last week were for students who finished
the 3rd and 5th grade math and 7th grade English language arts tests around
April 1, according to the PowerPoint presentation.
The education department will send specific student reports, designed for
parents, to districts within eight weeks of completion. Districts then would
mail each student’s report home to parents.
In the meantime, teachers can print out their own preliminary results to
have discussions with parents, Ashley said.
Here are plans at the other four districts and the charter school chain
EdSource is tracking:
Elk Grove Unified School District: As of last week, 85 percent of high
school students and 38 percent of elementary students had completed testing.
District officials plan to give teachers their students’ scores about two
weeks after the districts receive them from the state. District officials
will monitor the results as they come in, but they will only use the scores
with other measures to make decisions such as student placement, said Xanthi
Pinkerton, an Elk Grove spokeswoman. The district has about 62,000 students
in Northern California.
Santa Ana Unified School District: The district plans to wrap up testing
June 9. After the district receives results, officials plan to use them to
look at student achievement and evaluate school programs, said Deidra Powell
, a Santa Ana Unified spokeswoman. Santa Ana enrolls about 57,000 students
in Southern California.
Fresno Unified School District: Testing runs April 21 through May 27, so the
district expects to receive most of its results at the end of June, after
school is out. The student results will serve as a “baseline” to track
progress, said Jedidiah Chernabaeff, a Fresno Unified spokesman. The Central
California district enrolls about 73,000 students.
San Jose Unified School District: Students are scheduled to finish testing
May 15. District officials expect to receive results this summer and will
use them to see if they are aligned with their goals, said Jorge Quintana, a
San Jose spokesman. The Bay Area district has about 33,000 students.
Aspire Public Schools: Students at the charter schools are taking tests
between April 13 and June 5. The charter school chain expects to receive its
results in July. Officials plan to use the scores to get a baseline sense
of students’ “strengths and challenges,” said Catherine Foster, an Aspire
spokeswoman.
