SBAC TESTING
“SBAC. Did you hear about SBAC? Are you preparing your kid for SBAC?” Parents are asking each other.
SBAC is The WORD that I have been hearing since Aarav began 3rd grade. I mean what was SBAC? The teachers, school and few knowledgeable parents were talking about it. I felt as if I had missed the boat.
After interrogating the teacher and a few moms, I found out this is a state test which is taken during April or May. The scores do not affect kids school scores. The scores reflect more on the schools performance so the school can get rated and better funded according to the ratings. The funds are used to help kids overall in their education.
That was a relief as I did not have to do much to prepare Aarav. I was surprised by how much efforts was being put in by the school. At Wedgeworth Elementary, they offered free tutoring for all students taking the SBAC. From January to March , twice a week students were tutored for an hour after school. Aarav’s whole class was in tutoring.
Also, before testing began, the school sent a letter to parents encouraging parents to have their child get a good night sleep, rest and had parents write a series of encouragement letters to boost their childs confidence.
Aarav really liked the letters as it encouraged him to perform well on the test. I think more so because once he was done testing, we took him Lasertag to celebrate.
I felt it was a good testing method, but somewhere I felt there was unnecessary pressure on kids to perform well just for the schools ratings.
Since the beginning of the year, children are told to set a benchmark for their score and that is what they strive for. This is really good since it makes them aim for high scores.
However, due to SBAC, teachers seemed to rush through subjects. For instance, in a matter of two weeks, Aarav learned like 4 chapters in math (fraction, volume, liquids and division). The reason for this rush is because the children have to cover all these materials as SBAC was nearing. It did not matter if the children understood the subjects or not.
I started questioning whether Aarav was actually gaining anything from SBAC.
So, I decided to do some background research on SBAC.
The real name is Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (http://www.smarterbalanced.org/). According to the site, the test is supposed to help students think more critically, work harder and apply their skills to the real world.
Here is a list of pros and cons:
| Pros | Cons |
| 1. Students work harder, think more critically, and learn to apply their skills to the real world. | 1. There is a pressure to teach the test. Teachers have to learn how to use the testing system and then actually spend time with the kids on teaching them how to use the system. |
| 2. It helps teachers identify the areas where students need more help on. | 2. Scores do not provide an actual assessment of students intellectual ability. It actually is based on how well student can master taking the test. |
| 3. These are computerized tests which is customized to every students needs. | 3. Instead of teaching actual important material, more time is wasted on preparation of the test material. |
| 4. Based on each right or wrong answer, the computer will automatically adjust the level of the next question by making it harder or easier to answer. | 4. It is a way for such companies to make money off of student and schools. |
| 5. The test is related to all the lessons taught in the Common Core. | 5. Only English and Math are the two subjects tested on, leaving out other subjects. |
| 6. It helps schools evaluate their progress. | 6. The test itself is very time-consuming and requires a lot of attention span. For younger kids, to be in front of the computer the whole day is a lot. |
Also, according to California law, parents have the right to opt out their child from taking any type of standardized state testing. Parents have to submit a written request to the school saying why they do not want their child to take the test. At the same time, it is quite unclear as to what happens if you do excuse your child from the test. You can read more on https://edsource.org/2015/california-smarter-balanced-math-english-results-common-core-faq/86181.
I feel that SBAC is a good form of testing and at the end, students benefit from the funding. However, it is very important for teachers and schools to use this test as a tool to teach verses being under pressure to teach the test.
