In the upcoming weeks, Wilton public school students in grades 3-8 and grade 11 will begin taking the Standard Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) test as part of the Common Core standards.
The state of Connecticut adopted the Common Core state standards in 2010, Superintendent Kevin Smith told The Bulletin, and teachers have been “realigning curriculum and implementing Common Core standards since then.”
“The Common Core was developed by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the Association of Governors,” said Assistant Superintendent Charles Smith.
Since Connecticut’s adoption of Common Core, said Dr. Kevin Smith, teachers have been “realigning curriculum and implementing Common Core standards.”
As part of the state’s adoption of Common Core, the SBAC has replaced the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) in reading, writing and mathematics, which was previously given to children in grades 3-8. The CMTs are still given for science and students have already taken them. Tenth graders have taken the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) for science.
According to the school district’s March 9 letter to parents, the SBAC is one of the newly developed assessments designed to measure “where students are succeeding and where they need help.”
The new assessments offer “significant improvements over paper-based tests of the past,” according to the letter, “including new question types and performance tasks that ask students to demonstrate an array of research, writing and problem-solving skills.”
“I have had some parents who have expressed some concerns about how rigorous the Common Core standards are,” said Dr. Charles Smith, “but I have not had anybody complain about the SBAC test in particular.”
Although districts are “obligated to provide state tests annually” under federal law, said Dr. Kevin Smith, a student would not be penalized if the student or the student’s parent refused to have the student take the SBAC.
If a student were to opt out of taking the SBAC, Dr. Kevin Smith said, all that would happen is “the student wouldn’t get to participate in the test and we [the school district] wouldn’t have state test data for that student.”
“I don’t know that we have ever made a kid take a test — whether it’s a state test or any other kind of test,” said Dr. Kevin Smith, “and I don’t think we would.”
SBAC schedule
Third, fourth and fifth graders at Cider Mill will begin SBAC testing on Tuesday, April 21.
At Middlebrook, testing will take place on the following days:
- March 30-April 2: Sixth grade English language arts testing.
- April 6-10: Sixth grade math testing.
- April 20-24: Eighth grade English language arts testing.
- April 27-May 1: Eighth grade math testing.
- May 4-8: Seventh grade English language arts testing.
- May 11-15: Seventh grade math testing.
Juniors at Wilton High School will take the SBAC test Monday, May 18, through Friday, May 22.