Educator, public input sought on new student assessments

22-Jul-2014

Interested participants must register online by Sept. 19 to provide input on the new Hawaii Common Core-aligned assessments. The Smarter Balanced assesssments will measure student understanding of essential English language arts and math skills needed for college and career success.

​​​​​​​HONOLULU – The Hawaii State Department of Education is seeking educators, parents, business and community leaders to review test questions aligned to the Hawaii Common Core standards and help recommend achievement levels for grade-level proficiency.

Beginning spring 2015, public school students in grades 3-8 and 11 will take new Smarter Balanced assessments​ in English language arts and math. Smarter Balanced assessments will replace the Hawaii State Assessment in reading and math and measure how well students are learning the Hawaii Common Core – a set of consistent learning expectations for what students should know and be able to do at each grade to graduate ready for college and careers.

The Smarter Balanced Online Panel for Achievement Level Setting provides an opportunity for educators and the public to give feedback and help ensure assessment results are based on challenging, yet fair expectations for students. Registered participants will provide input between Oct. 6 and 17 for up to three hours during a two-day window through a secure website. To register, please visit SmarterBalanced.org/OnlinePanel. The deadline to apply is Sept. 19.

Participants will be expected to recommend an achievement level score that determines how much students should know and be able to do to be considered proficient at the grade-level standards. Participants may use any computing device that connects to the internet, including tablets. Cell phones are not recommended because of screen size limitations.

About Smarter Balanced

The new Smarter Balanced assessments will be a better tool for understanding students’ readiness. Assessments will feature a wide range of questions and tasks that ask students to demonstrate real-world applications of their knowledge and use evidence to support their answers.

The assessments will provide teachers, students and parents more accurate information on students’ understanding of grade-level expectations. This will help everyone work together to support children throughout their education.

Teachers, parents and higher education faculty from Hawaii and more than 20 other states collaborated on the development of high-quality assessments to accurately measure student progress toward graduating college- and career-ready. The assessments were created by a multi-state Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, of which Hawaii is a governing member.

Hawaii has worked with other states to thoughtfully test the content and the technology that will support Smarter Balanced assessments. This has included collecting feedback from students on the format of assessment questions and accommodations for students with disabilities three separate times over the past year.

Contact Information

Donalyn Dela Cruz

Phone: 808-586-3232

Email: Donalyn_Dela_Cruz@hawaiidoe.org

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