Schools begin pilot testing

Whitefish students are beginning a round of performance testing.

Students are taking the Smarter Balanced test, a statewide computer-based standardized test. The students are taking a field test this year.

“Things seem to be going smoothly,” district curriculum director Jill Rocksund said during the April 8 School Board meeting.

Data from this year’s tests will be used to create the final assessment tests that students will take in earnest in coming school years.

“Hopefully this will help create a good product that will be used in the coming years,” Rocksund said.

The assessment gauges student abilities based upon the new Common Core state standards, which creates guidelines for what students should know at each grade level to graduate from high school prepared for college and work.

Middle school started last week with students in the computer lab. They will be taking language arts and math tests. Third grade students begin taking the tests this week. At the high school, juniors will take the test.

Montana joined with 24 states in developing assessments with the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. Around the state, students in grades 3-8 and 11 are participating in the field test in English language arts and mathematics.

Rocksund noted that because this year’s testing is being done to create the final assessment test, the district will not receive feedback on how students performed.

“This is helping create a good test,” she said. “Until all the students take the field test there is no standard or benchmark to compare scores to.”