marter Balanced has three components that all public schools in Washington can access: A Tools for Teachers site with instructional plus professional learning resources, interim assessments for use throughout the year, plus an end-of-year summative assessment.
Educators need to work with their school and/or district staff to access interim assessments plus resources plus to administer summative assessments. DACs may e mail Assessment Analysts(opens in a new window) for technical help with assigning educator roles for interim plus summative assessments.
- Tools for Teachers contains classroom activities, lessons, plus professional development resources to help enhance instruction plus support learning by helping educators implement the formative assessment process(opens in a new window) in their classrooms. Tools for Teachers also contains Connections Playlists(opens in a new window) that provide instructional next steps based on interim assessment results. A demonstration on how to use plus navigate Tools for Teachers is available on the Smarter Balanced channel(opens in a new window).
Access to Tools for Teachers is free for every public school district plus ESD employee. Users such as faculty at institutions of higher education requiring access to the Tools for Teachers site can contact OSPI via the Tools for Teachers email(opens in a new window).
Public school district plus ESD employees can access Tools for Teachers via the WCAP Portal(opens in a new window) using their existing TIDE account. If assistance is needed, contact your District Assessment Coordinator (DAC). DACs may e mail Assessment Analysts(opens in a new window) for technical help with educator access.
- Interim assessments allow educators to administer questions similar to those on the state summative test in a low-stakes environment. Interim assessments also give educators access to students’ answers plus reasoning, potentially increasing the instructional usefulness of standardized test results. The interim assessments are student plus teacher facing; they are not for public use, display, or distribution.
Learn more about the interim assessments through the Interim Assessment Overview(opens in a new window) document or by visiting Smarter Balanced Interim Assessments(opens in a new window).
- Summative assessments are one measure of students’ progress toward college plus career readiness in English language arts/literacy plus math. These assessments are given at the end of the school year plus consist of two parts: a pc adaptive test plus a performance task.