Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for ELA
The Smarter Balanced Summative Assessment for ELA measures the California Common Core State Standards for English language arts/literacy in grades 3–8 and 11. California is a governing state in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, and this test is a required CAASPP component for every student except those who take the California Alternate Assessment.
What the test measures
Four claims are reported: Reading, Writing, Listening, and Research/Inquiry. Reading items sample literary and informational texts and target key details, central ideas, word meaning, reasoning and evidence, and text structure. Writing is measured through short constructed responses and a full write scored for organization/purpose, evidence/elaboration, and conventions. Listening items, which require headphones, ask students to comprehend and analyze brief spoken presentations. Research items ask students to evaluate and integrate information from several sources. Claim results appear on the Student Score Report as above standard, at or near standard, or below standard, separately from the overall achievement level.
How the test is assembled
- A computer-adaptive section (selected response, short text, technology-enhanced items) plus one performance task assigned to the whole class rather than selected adaptively.
- The performance task pairs a research component with a full write: students read sources, answer research questions, then write.
- Untimed; plan roughly two to three and a half hours total, with the performance task split across one or two sittings.
- Four achievement levels: Standard Exceeded, Standard Met, Standard Nearly Met, Standard Not Met.
Worked example
A grade 5 teacher asks whether a student with a read-aloud designated support may have the literary passage read aloud. Reasoning: read-aloud (including text-to-speech) is a designated support for mathematics and for ELA items, but it is not permitted on the ELA reading passages in grades 3–8 and 11, because the passage itself measures decoding and comprehension. The support may still be used on non-passage ELA items, and translated test directions remain available. Reading the passage aloud would invalidate the reading claim.
Traps that cost marks
- Assuming the performance task adapts; it does not.
- Treating at or near standard on a claim as a failure; it is a midpoint category.
- Allowing text-to-speech on reading passages.
- Assuming the summative window is open all year: LEAs schedule it within the last 12 weeks of the school year.