Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments FAQs

The Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments are annual computer-based tests that assess students’ progress toward:

• Meeting the rigorous academic standards adopted by the California State Board of Education.

• Developing the critical thinking, analytical writing, and problem-solving skills needed for college and a twenty-first century career readiness.

The first statewide administration of the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments was spring 2015.

California worked with 20 other states as part of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium to develop the assessments and the professional and instructional resources to help students, teachers and schools throughout the year. Educators—from kindergarten through grade twelve (K–12) to higher education—were deeply involved in the design, testing, and scoring of the assessments.

• The Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments are computer-based and computer adaptive, providing students with a wider range of questions and yielding more accurate information on the knowledge and skills that individual students have mastered.
• The tests include performance tasks that challenge students to demonstrate critical thinking and problem solving, and to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world problems.
• The tests measure standards that our K–12 and higher education systems all agree address appropriate expectations for the preparation of high school graduates for success in careers and college.
• The tests are taken online, and the results are available electronically to teachers and parents/guardians.
• The assessment system is designed to measure student progress over time and provides teachers and parents/guardians with results to inform learning and instruction.
• The tests include supports for English learners and students with special needs, allowing them to demonstrate what they know and can do.

There are a full range of accessibility supports for all students, including those who are English learners and students with disabilities. These include universal tools, designated supports, accommodations, and unlisted resources. For a full list and description of these supports, please see the California Department of Education (CDE) Student Accessibility Supports web page.

The assessments measure student performance on California’s content standards in English language arts/literacy (ELA) and mathematics and their ability to write analytically, think critically, and solve complex problems. While the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments are important, students and parents should review the results in combination with other important performance measures, such as report cards, grades received on class assignments, and other teacher feedback.

Student responses to selected-response items (i.e., questions) are machine-scored. Responses to constructed-response items are scored by human raters for some items and by a hybrid human–automated scoring approach for other items. A percentage of all constructed responses are second scored to support reliability calculations.

The weighting of an individual item within the student's overall scale score varies depending on the statistical characteristics of the item, including the difficulty of the item. Therefore, there is not a fixed weighting between the computer-adaptive test (CAT) and performance task (PT) portions of the assessments. When thinking broadly about how much the CAT or PT contributes to a student’s overall scale score, one can consider the number of items and number of points available for each item within the CAT and PT, respectively.

The results help teachers, parents/guardians, and students understand how well a student is meeting the grade-level standards.

Grade 11 students have the option to authorize the release of their Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for English language arts/literacy and mathematics results at the conclusion of each exam to the California State University system. The results are only used as one of multiple measures to determine a student’s readiness for college-level coursework in English and mathematics. For more information, please visit the California Department of Education Early Assessment Program web page.

The Student Score Reports include the student’s overall score and achievement level for English language arts/literacy and mathematics, as well as information on the student’s performance in key areas (claims), score comparison, and score history. For a sample of the full report, visit the Understanding the Score Reports and Areas section on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress Starting Smarter website.

Once the testing contractor completes the quality control process, scores will be available to local educational agencies (LEAs) within three to four weeks after the test administration to the student. Once LEAs receive the student score reports, they have 20 days to distribute the reports to parents/guardians. If LEA’s receive results after the school year has ended, they will have 20 days to distribute from the start of the new school year, in accordance with Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, Section 863.

Explore sample score reports, check out sample test questions, and access parent friendly resources on the Starting Smarter website.

Pursuant to Senate Bill 293, California must report statewide results by October 15, beginning in 2024. Results are posted on the California Department of Education Test Results for California’s Assessments website.

Yes. The California Department of Education takes the privacy of student records very seriously. All student scores and other confidential data are stored securely, monitored against intrusion, and accessible only to those with legitimate educational purposes and credentials.