EDU 645 Week 5 Performance Task Analysis- Summative Assessment Preparation

SAMPLE ITEMS AND

PERFORMANCE TASKS

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is purpose of the sample items and performance tasks? Smarter Balanced sample items and performance tasks are intended to help teachers,

administrators, and policymakers implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and prepare

for the implementation of the Smarter Balanced Assessment System in the 2014-15 school year.

They provide an early look into the depth of understanding of the CCSS that will be measured by the

Smarter Balanced assessments.

2. Will these items and tasks appear on the final assessments? The sample items and tasks are meant to illustrate the rigor and complexity students will encounter

on the Smarter Balanced assessments. They also show the different types of questions that will

appear on the assessments, including: selected-response; constructed response; technology-

enhanced; and performance tasks. While these items and tasks may be included in the non-secure

interim assessment item bank, they will not be part of the secure summative assessment item bank.

Smarter Balanced is working with educators to develop and test thousands of additional items and

performance tasks in 2013 and 2014.

3. Can I administer these questions to my students? The sample items and tasks are not intended to be used as practice tests. However, educators can

use them to begin planning the shifts in instruction that will be required to help students meet the

demands of the new assessments.

4. When will teachers and students be able to view complete assessments? Teachers and students will have two opportunities to experience the assessments prior to

implementation in the 2014-15 school year. All schools in Smarter Balanced member states will be

eligible to participate in a Pilot Test of the assessment system beginning in February 2013.

Additional information about how to participate in the Pilot Test will be made available to states in

fall 2012.

In early 2014, a large-scale Field Test will be conducted across member states. The goal of the Field

Test will be to ensure that administration, scoring, and reporting systems function correctly in

preparation for the implementation of the assessment system in the 2014-15 school year.

5. What is a performance task?

Performance tasks are extended activities that measure a student’s ability to integrate knowledge

and skills across multiple standards—a key component of college and career readiness. Performance

tasks will be used to better measure capacities such as depth of understanding, research skills, and

complex analysis, which cannot be adequately assessed with selected- or constructed-response

items. Some performance tasks can be scored automatically; many will be hand-scored by

professionally trained readers.

These tasks will be delivered as part of the interim and summative components of the assessment

system, with more extended tasks available in the digital library as part of the Smarter Balanced-

developed exemplar instructional modules and inventory of currently available resources. The time

and resource constraints for each performance task will be guided by its placement in the overall

assessment system.

6. How were the sample items and performance tasks developed?

Smarter Balanced is working with educators from Governing States to write and review items and

tasks. Detailed item and task specifications—along with training modules for item developers—

SAMPLE ITEMS AND

PERFORMANCE TASKS

ensure that each question is aligned with approved content claims, assessment targets, and the

Common Core State Standards.

7. What tools are available for students with special needs? Smarter Balanced is committed to providing valid, fair, and reliable measures of achievement and

growth for English language learners and students with disabilities. The sample items and tasks do

not include accessibility tools and accommodations options that will be available when the

assessments are administered to students in the 2014-15 school year—such as Braille, translation

options, and the ability to change font size, highlight text, or magnify portions of items. Over the next

several months—guided by the Consortium’s Accessibility and Accommodations Work Group and

advisory committees for English language learners and students with disabilities—Smarter Balanced

will finalize the accessibility tools and accommodations options available through the test interface.

8. Why are some English language arts/literacy items missing a reading passage? The sample English language arts/literacy items and performance tasks include a mixture of

published and commissioned reading passages and sources. Smarter Balanced has not obtained

permission to reprint copyrighted passages and source documents referenced in the sample items.

As a result, several sample items and performance tasks—Planes on the Brain 1-3, Animal Defenses,

and Garden—include only the citations for copyrighted material, rather than the complete text. For

the operational assessment in the 2014-15 school year, Smarter Balanced intends to use primarily

published passages—reflecting the emphasis in the Common Core on exposure to “high-quality,

increasingly challenging literary and informational texts”—and the full text of these passages will be

available to students.

9. What are the technology requirements for viewing the sample items and tasks? The sample items and performance tasks are compatible with desktop and laptop computers with

the following Internet browsers:

 Firefox 3.6 or newer

 Internet Explorer 8 or newer

 Chrome 18 or newer

 Safari 4.1 or newer

In addition, Android and iPad tablets with 9.5 inch screens (10 inch class) or larger are supported

with the following Internet browsers:

 Chrome 18 or newer (Android)

 Safari 4.1 or newer (iPad)

It is important to note that these specifications do not reflect the minimum technology requirements

for the operational Smarter Balanced Assessment System in the 2014-15 school year. More

information on the Consortium’s new hardware purchasing guidelines is available on the Technology

page.

10. Can the sample items and tasks be scored? Users can score most selected response and technology-enhanced items to receive instant feedback

on their answers. Constructed response and performance tasks are not able to be automatically

scored at this time, although scoring rubrics are provided under “About this Item.” In some cases,

the range of possible answers for constructed response items must be validated through the Field

Test. In addition, Smarter Balanced is developing automated technologies to score written

responses. Items and tasks that cannot be scored automatically will be evaluated by trained

educators.