The Office of Educational Accountability has just released 5 new informational handouts and related links regarding all assessments for K-12 students starting in 2014-15. The biggest change is in high school testing, as ACT discontinued the Explore and Plan assessments. Instead, ACT  joined Pearson to create a new entity and the test is called ACT Aspire. 

• General information from ACT: Transitioning from Explore/Plan to Aspire (link)
• ACT’s Resource Page: Topical FAQ About Aspire (link)

In addition, a Parents Guide to New Assessments has been created for use with parents and others in the community to assist in understanding the new assessments and schedule.

• 2014-15 Tentative Wisconsin Assessment Schedule (PDF)
• Wisconsin's New Assessments (PDF)
• Parents Guide To New Assessments in Wisconsin (PDF)

See all info at http://tinyurl.com/wiscsbac1 or at http://oea.dpi.wi.gov/oea_wiassessmt.

WI Online Assessment Readiness

Practice Tests - DPI link

January 2014

Smarter Introduces Training Test complete with full accommodations/accessibility features

In May 2013, Smarter Balanced introduced its online Practice Test (http://sbac.portal.airast.org/practice-test/). Since that time, teachers and students have used this tool to experience grade-level assessments in English language arts/literacy and mathematics. Over time, a variety of new features that will be included in the Smarter Balanced Field Test this spring and in the 2014-15 Operational Test will continue to be added to the Practice Test.

Today (January 30, 2014), Smarter Balanced introduces its Training Test (http://sbac.portal.airast.org/practice-test/). The Training Test is designed to serve three key purposes:

1. Provide a means for students and teachers to quickly become familiar with the features of the Smarter Balanced assessment software interface.
2. Provide a means for students and teachers to experience new item types that do not currently appear on the Practice Test. 
3. Provide a means for students and teachers to preview universal tools, designated supports, and accommodations.

Recommended Reading Websites

The Common Core State Standards team through DPI has launched the English Language Arts Professional Learning Community, a Google community where PK-16 ELA educators may engaged in dialogue around practice and research. This is an open community that allows members to share their ideas through links, posts, and comments. It is organized in categories—reading, writing, speaking and listening, language, instruction, assessment, etc. The categories are located in the left margin under the logo.: http://bit.ly/WIDPIELA.