September 2015 H.E.L.P. Blog

What's NEW? (Hold on to your hats!)

A New State Test on the Horizon

Last month, the State Board of Education voted unanimously to begin the rule-making process required for adopting Smarter Balanced Assessment as Iowa's new state test in English/ Language Arts and Mathematics. SBAC will replace replace Iowa Assessment in English and Math for grades 3-11 in the 2016-17 school year.

Why Smarter Balanced? Here are some of the Task Force's reasoning:
1) Tighter alignment to Iowa Core in content and rigor which means a more fair, valid and reliable measure of student learning.
2) A balanced, high-quality assessment system including formative, summative, and interim components.
3) Inclusion of performance tasks and more rigorous constructed response items.
4) A computer adapted assessment system more accurately measures student achievement and growth.
5) Cost will be more but comparable to the Next Generation Iowa Assessments.
6) Time to administer the assessment comparable to Next Generation Iowa Assessments; approximately 2 to 3 ¾ hours, depending on the preparation time for performance task.
7) More accessibility features and accommodations for students.
8) Additional products and services: practice tests, training tests, professional development modules on scoring, reporting, administration, assessment literacy, and understanding the Common Core.
9) Digital Library access to education colleges and collaboration on college and career readiness studies.
With Smarter Balanced, schools will have access to information to make the best instructional and curricular decisions possible and students have access to information to guide their learning.
What about Science?
The Assessment Task Force is reconvening to investigate a statewide Science assessment.
Other Large-Scale Assessment
This school year will also see transition of two assessments for special populations. IELDA & TELPA (for English Language Learners) will transition to ELPA21. The Iowa Alternate Assessment will transition to Dynamic Learning Maps.

What's DUE?

October 1: Count date for Certified Enrollment; VRF production site opens
October 8: Approve student-level data from VRF into Certified Enrollment
October 15: Certified Enrollment Certification deadline
October 16: Submission deadline for Cohort 3 TLC Plans
October 30: Special Education Count Date