Smarter Balanced is now in its fourth year as the nation’s most innovative online assessment system. We’re excited to continue to provide a world-class assessment that is accessible for students and supports high-quality teaching.  Test scores improved from 2015 to 2017 for the 15 states that administered Smarter Balanced. However, the gains from 2016 to 2017 generally stalled. The lack of gains has led some to question the accuracy of the test.

Based on this information, and other early analyses, we have every reason to believe that the scores accurately describe what students knew and were able to do in spring 2017 related to the learning standards.

Regardless, we are engaging in a rigorous review of the 2017 test data. This is actually part of our annual business practice. Each year, we complete and publicly release an in-depth review of the technical quality of the assessment.

Read the full article about Smarter Balanced by Tony Alpert at The 74.