Smarter Balanced Gets “Thumbs Up” from Federal Officials
July 31, 2018
Stephen Sawchuk reports for Education Week that Nevada’s use of the Smarter Balanced test, “one of the major providers of tests measuring the Common Core State Standards,” has “met all of the U.S. Department of Education’s requirements for grades 3-8.” This represents the first time that the Smarter Balanced test has received the “thumbs up” from the federal government. The approval “is part of the wonky ‘peer review’ process, a requirement under the Every Student Succeeds Act meant to make sure the tests are technically sound.” However, “most states are still in peer-review purgatory despite ESSA now coming up to its third anniversary.”