STATE OF CONNECTICUT

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

TO: FROM: Superintendents in Districts Administering Only the Smarter Balanced Field Test Stefan Pryor Commissioner March 3, 2014 Connecticut Receives Testing Flexibility from U.S. Department of Education

DATE: SUBJECT:

The Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) is pleased to report that the U.S. Department of Education has approved the CSDEs application for Field Test Flexibility for 2013-14. This federal approval enables the CSDE to relieve Connecticuts schools and districts from the burden of having to double-test students during this period of transition. This is a significant victory for Connecticuts teachers and students. Without this flexibility, a significant percentage of students statewide would have spent greater time on standardized testing. Teachers would have been compelled to spend precious instructional time teaching content that was not well aligned to the new standards but assessed in our legacy tests (i.e., the Connecticut Mastery Test and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test). Instead of being held back by the past, this federal flexibility provides your district a low-stakes opportunity to move forward and fully enter the Common Core era in 2013-14 by administering the Smarter Balanced Field Test (SB-FT) in lieu of the legacy assessments. Teachers can reclaim instructional time that would have otherwise been lost to redundant standardized testing and focus on teaching the new standards. Students can experience current rather than outdated assessment content and get familiarized with the new computer-based testing system. Schools can evaluate and address any issues regarding their technical capacity (including logistics) in preparation for the Smarter Balanced operational assessment in 2014-15. As you know, this flexibility from double testing is in addition to flexibility we have enabled regarding the postponement of the use of standardized test data (including Smarter Balanced data) in teacher and leader evaluation for two years (2013-14 and 2014-15) and other flexibility we have offered to districts regarding the educator evaluation system (including new options regarding observations and goals/objectives). Combined, these flexibilities enable districts to lower unnecessary stakes, decrease understandable anxiety, and enter the Common Core era in the way that makes the most sense locally. The attached memorandum summarizes the implications of this approved flexibility in 2013-14 for: 1. participation in the field test and reporting results from it; 2. educator evaluation and support; and 3. school accountability. Please know that for each of these areas, the CSDE has worked diligently to provide the greatest flexibility possible and lowered stakes in order to ease the transition to the new standards and assessments. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you.

Box 2219

Hartford, Connecticut 06145

An Eq u a l Op p o rtu n ity E mp lo y er

STATE OF CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

TO: FROM:

Superintendents in Districts Administering Only the Smarter Balanced Field Test Dianna Roberge Wentzell, Chief Academic Officer Sarah Barzee, Chief Talent Officer Ajit Gopalakrishnan, Bureau Chief, Performance Office March 3, 2014 Implications of Field Test Flexibility for 2013-14

DATE: SUBJECT:

The U.S. Department of Education has approved the Connecticut State Department of Educations (CSDE) application for Field Test Flexibility for 2013-14. This approval confirms your districts ability to administer the Smarter Balanced Field Test (SB-FT) in 2013-14 in lieu of the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT)/Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) in the subject areas of reading, writing, and mathematics. This memorandum summarizes the implications of this approved flexibility in 2013-14 for: 1. participation in the field test and reporting results from it; 2. educator evaluation and support; and 3. school accountability. To answer any questions from districts regarding the points outlined in this memorandum, the CSDE is scheduling a conference call for Friday, March 7, 2014 from 11:00 12:00. Call-in instructions will be provided later this week.

SB-FT: Participation and Reporting for 2013-14

The primary purpose of the field test is to test the test. Participation in the SB-FT provides districts, schools, and teachers the opportunity to prepare for the full implementation of the new assessments in spring 2015. Students will also benefit from participating in the field test. They will experience, in a low-stakes environment, new test content that is aligned to the Common Core State Standards. They will be exposed to new types of test items that can only be delivered through a computerbased assessment. They will gain exposure to a wide variety of online tools that will be available through the new statewide assessment delivery system. By participating in the field test, students can also meaningfully inform the development of Connecticuts state assessment by ensuring that it is a fair and accurate representation of Connecticuts students and their knowledge and abilities. Overall, this experience will better prepare students for future assessments.

Students with disabilities who would previously have taken the Modified Assessment System (MAS) assessment will also benefit from participating in the SB-FT. They will experience the universal design

Page 1 of 3

features of the Smarter Balanced assessment system that are intended to provide greater access. They will also gain familiarity with the tools, supports, and accommodations within the Smarter Balanced online assessment that allow for the unique needs of their learning style(s). It should be noted that Connecticuts MAS has always been an online assessment. Schools can evaluate and address any issues that may arise during this field test regarding their technical capacity (including testing logistics) to deliver large scale assessments on the computer. This will help ensure that schools are prepared to provide an adequate testing environment for their students, well in advance of the Smarter Balanced operational assessment in 2014-15. Though Connecticut has received this flexibility from the U.S. Department of Education (USED) to minimize the burden of double-testing, this federal approval does not waive the fundamental participation requirement. The USED continues to expect states and local educational agencies to ensure full participation in state assessments (in your case, the full form of the SB-FT) in all tested grades at each school for all students, and for each subgroup of students within the school. Therefore, please note the following: As in past years, districts and schools must make every effort to ensure that all students including those enrolled in district-wide programs and outplaced to approved private special education programs are assessed. States are required by the federal government to assess all students in tested grades annually. The tested grades are grades 3 through 8 and one grade in high school. With Smarter Balanced, the high school assessment grade changes from grade 10 to grade 11. It is therefore necessary that one cohort of high school students during this transition to Smarter Balanced are tested in both the CAPT and the Smarter Balanced. For districts that chose to administer the SB-FT in grade 11 this year in lieu of CAPT in grade 10, the transition occurs a year earlier than in other districts. The CSDE will report these participation rates to the public and to the USED. Participation in state assessments is required by federal and state law; there is no legal provision for parents to opt their children out of taking the state assessments. In terms of the reporting of results from the SB-FT, please note the following: Connecticuts Field Test Flexibility waives the CSDE and local districts from the requirement of providing individual student reports regarding achievement on the SB-FT to parents, teachers, and principals. Given the significance of this transition, the CSDE is working with national psychometric experts to obtain all available data from the field test to see what information can be shared regarding aggregate student performance in 2013-14, especially as it relates to their performance on the operational test in 2014-15. The extent of aggregate reporting, if any, that may result from these analyses is as yet unclear and wont be known until after all data from the field test are received and analyzed (currently expected in Winter 2015).

Educator Evaluation and Support for 2013-14 and 2014-15

Last October, districts were provided with the choice of opting out of using state test data in educator evaluation during 2013-14. This choice has been extended into 2014-15 (pending federal approval). Given the timing of datas likely arrival next year (see above) and other factors, districts implementing the SB-FT should note that it is impractical to expect to use results from the SB-FT for educator evaluation in 2013-14 or 2014-15. It is therefore not advised. The only state test results that will be available to districts choosing the SB-FT are those from CMT/CAPT Science. However, no growth model has been developed for the science assessment.

Page 2 of 3

School Accountability for 2013-14

CSDE will not report attainment of annual School Performance Index (SPI) and the District Performance Index (DPI) performance targets for English language arts and mathematics in 201314. The CSDE will report target attainment only for CMT/CAPT Science. Overall and subgroup science SPI and DPI targets for 2013-14 are available at http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/excel/evalresearch/2014targets_sb-ft_only.xls. Please be assured that results from the SB-FT will not be used for school accountability in 201314. Schools will not be reclassified based on results from the SB-FT. All school classifications issued in December 2013 will remain in effect until after the SB operational test is administered in 2014-15.

Thank you.

Page 3 of 3