High school students who took the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium field test last spring found it far more difficult than younger students did, especially in mathematics, according to a new report.
The report by the consortium is based on responses from 19,000 of the 4 million students who took part in the field test and 5,000 teachers and administrators.
Seventy percent of the test coordinators in the seven states that responded to the SBAC survey said the field test had gone as well or better than they had anticipated.
Among other key takeaways:
•Students at all grade levels found the test more difficult than their state’s previous test. They found the Smarter Balanced items “challenging” and “really hard” and said they “took more thought to answer questions.”
•Many respondents reported that the test, which is aligned to the Common Core State Standards, required a daunting amount of keyboarding from young children.
•Most students said the test did not reflect what they learned in class.
