Oregon’s Smarter Balanced Field Test - Lessons Learned - Fall 2014

Oct 3, 2026

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Report on Oregon’s Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) field test conducted in 2014, detailing purpose, process, participation, and feedback outcomes. Describes how SBAC tested item quality and an online delivery system for ELA and mathematics for grades 3–8 and high school, covering tools and performance tasks aligned to Common Core standards. Summarizes results from Oregon’s 195 schools and 78 districts, including survey and focus-group feedback on test readiness and areas needing improvement as the program moves into the 2014–15 operational year.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Overview

Background

Purpose

Process

Results

Summary

qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqw ertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwert yuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyui opasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopa sdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdf ghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghj klzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklz xcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcv bnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbn mqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmq wertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwe Oregon’s Smarter Balanced Field Test Lessons Learned Fall 2014 Oregon Department of Education TABLE OF CONTENTS Overview 1-2 Oregon Lessons Learned 3 Consortium Lessons Learned 4 Recommended Practices 5-6 rtyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwerty uiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnmqwertyuiopasdfg b t i df hjk Assessment OVERVIEW: Background The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC)—composed of 20 states, Oregon included, and the U.S. Virgin Islands—completed a practice run of new, college-and career-ready assessments in English language arts/literacy (ELA) and mathematics for students in grades 3 through 8 and high school between March and June of 2014. With more than 4.2 million students participating across 16,549 schools, the Smarter Balanced field test stands as the largest of its kind in the history of education in the United States. Field testing represents an essential step in developing high quality assessments. For SBAC, the intent of the field test was three-fold: ensure the quality of assessment items and the online testing system; generate data to use in setting preliminary achievement standards; and evaluate the capacity of current technology and test administration systems to implement the new assessments on a broad scale. As part of SBAC’s commitment to developing next-generation assessments that are accurate and fair for all students, over 19,000 items and performance tasks were tested to ensure alignment to and measurement of student achievement against the Common Core State Standards. Purpose Noted above, the primary purpose of the field test was to ensure the functionality of item types, embedded tools, and the general assessment delivery system. Additionally, 13 of 20 Consortium states chose to collect educator, test administrator (TA), and student feedback to assess the readiness of their schools to administer and students to take the new summative assessments. Here, field test feedback provides an important, more individualized snapshot of state readiness in the areas oftest administration, curriculum alignment to state-adopted content standards, and student preparation for higher education and the 21st Century workplace. In Oregon, 195 schools across 78 districts participated in the Smarter Balanced field test, totaling more than 24,000 participants. Specifically, 16,803 students completed the math test and 14,965 completed the ELA test. Post-test, our goal was to capture the experiences of those involved in the testing process to better understand what works well and what requires further improvement as we move into our first operational year (2014-15) . In addition to Oregon-specific observations, this report features general results from feedback collected across the consortium to provide a more holistic picture of the Smarter Balanced field testing experience. Process We provided student surveys and teacher/test administrator (TA) questionnaires to all Smarter Balanced field testing schools with submission guidelines and collected responses during a two-week window from May 28th to June 11th, 2014. To supplement questionnaires, we conducted focus groups with students from schools that responded to a recruitment email sent to all field testing schools. Participation in both feedback venues was voluntary. Results Approximately 2,549 Oregon students and 93 educators/TAs (survey + focus group participants) provided feedback on their testing experiences. Responses include both descriptive information (i.e. grade level, testing hardware, etc.) and dialogue regarding the testing experien

FAQs

What was the main purpose of the Smarter Balanced field test for Oregon?

The primary purpose was to ensure the functionality of item types, embedded tools, and the overall assessment delivery system. It also included collecting educator and student feedback on school readiness and student readiness for the new summative assessments.

When and how was feedback collected during the field test?

Student surveys and teacher/test administrator questionnaires were collected during a two-week window from May 28 to June 11, 2014. Focus groups were conducted with students from schools that responded to a recruitment email.

What feedback themes and recommendations are highlighted in the results?

Results indicate Smarter Balanced was perceived as more difficult, challenging, interactive, and writing-and-typing intensive than OAKS. Key recommendations include prioritizing early familiarity with the test interface and question types, strengthening alignment to Oregon content standards, and increasing support for instruction and testing.

Oct 3, 2026

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