Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/315828
means that the complexity of the questions increases or decreases based on student responses. There is also a performance task component, which asks students to complete a series of steps, culminating in a final product. The group behind the new assessments is the Smarter Bal- anced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), one of two multistate member groups funded by the U.S. Department of Education to develop assessment systems aligned to the CCSS. California is one of 27 states taking part in Smarter Balanced, which allows teachers to get results from computerized assessments with- in weeks instead of months. It's actually three tests, because California purchased the "premium package" that includes two interim assessments and a summative assessment, so test results throughout the year can inform teachers of where they should adjust instruction. Gov. Jerry Brown added $1.25 billion to the budget to help school districts implement the Common Core, and much of that is going toward technology. Jackson says her school purchased new computers that are Wi-Fi ac- cessible, unlike the old computers that were slow and cumbersome. While 83 percent of all California schools are connected to the California Department of Education's K-12 High Speed Network, they may not have high-speed Internet, and some lack sufficient computers, keyboards or bandwidth to run the test that uses videos and animated graphics and interactive fea- tures in test questions. Some students have been bused to other schools or are taking tests on leased mobile computer labs. In some schools, students are being tested a few at a time to avoid crashing the system, reports Deb Sigman, deputy superintendent of the CDE. Students in Jackson's class like the com- puters, but the questions — not so much. "I enjoyed testing on the computer as well as disliked it," says one. "It was fun testing on something new. But it was difficult with the mouse." In a practice test in Felipe Lemus' class at Calwa Elementary in Fresno, it took a half hour for third-graders to log in. The com- puters didn't have headsets, and noise from videos playing on the tablets was distracting. Students shouted for help over the noise lev- el, and heard from their teacher, "I can't help you, this is a test." Things can only improve, says Lemus, looking frazzled, explaining that his students haven't had much practice with computers, except for machines in the school's computer lab that are much different from the tablets his school uses for testing. How can educators become more knowl- edgeable about the test? One of the best ways is visiting the Smarter Balanced website (smarterbalanced.org ) and looking at "item specifications and blue- prints," which show the standards, how they are clustered and how they are assessed at different DOK (depth of knowledge) levels, suggests Adam Ebrahim, an eighth-grade his- tory and design technology teacher at Cooper Academy in Fresno. He was selected by NEA to participate in the Teachers Ambassadors Project, which is a partnership among the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, NEA, the American Federation of Teachers, and WestEd. Ebrahim likes the new assessment, but the Fresno Teachers Association member worries that Smarter Balanced could someday be misused in a punitive way, becoming STAR Test, The Sequel. "I worry that districts will plug in the new assessments into existing, high- stakes, curriculum-narrowing mechanisms that are bad for teachers and terrible for stu- dents," he explains. He hopes the new test will eliminate teaching to the test. " T h e b e s t w a y t o p r e p a r e s t u d e n t s f o r t h i s t e s t i s n o t t o t e a c h t o t h i s t e s t . T h e b e s t w a y t o p r e p a r e y o u r s e l f a n d y o u r k i d s i s b y b e i n g k n o w l - e d g e a b l e a b o u t h o w t h e t e s t f u n c t i o n s , a n d t h e n c r e a t i n g r i c h l e a r n i n g e x p e r i e n c e s f o r s t u d e n t s t h a t e n g a g e t h e s t a n d a r d s i n d i f f e r e n t c o n t e x t s a n d a c r o s s d i f f e r e n t c o n t e n t a r e a s t h a t w i l l m a k e l e a r n i n g m o r e e n g a g i n g f o r t h e s t u d e n t . I t g i v e s t h e m t h e a b i l i t y t o t r a n s f e r a n d a p p l y k n o w l e d g e . I t w i l l a l s o p r o v i d e t e a c h e r s w i t h t h e b e s t k i n d o f f e e d b a c k o n w h a t s t u d e n t s a r e l e a r n i n g . " Adam Ebrahim, here with with Karrisa Adams and Rachel Salinas, likes the new assessment, but worries that Smarter Balanced could someday be misused in a punitive way, becoming STAR Test, The Sequel. P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y S C O T T B U S C H M A N Let us know at cta.org/fieldtest. Share how the field tests are going this year and how your district is doing with implementation. We will share your responses with Superin- tendent Tom Torlakson and the State Board of Education. Our voice has never been more im- portant. Let's make sure we are heard. Next issue in the Educator : How field testing went in California's classrooms. WHAT'S YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE FIELD TEST? 17 www.cta.org M AY 2 0 1 4 Educator 05 May 2014 v1.6 int.indd 17 5/16/14 3:21 PM