The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau announced public high school juniors will no longer be required to take the annual Smarter Balanced assessment, and instead will take the ACT.

“Montana is one of 13 states that provides the ACT to all juniors for free, it doesn’t make sense to ask juniors to take the ACT and the Smarter Balanced assessment,” Superintendent Juneau said. “The change will cut testing time for public high school students by two-thirds, and allow them to focus on preparing for college and career.”

Testing time will also be cut for all other grades because Montana will no longer participate in the Smarter Balanced classroom activity.

Montana students in grades 3-8 and 11 took the Smarter Balanced assessment last spring, replacing the outdated Criterion Reference Test (CRT). The new test is aligned to the state’s more-rigorous math and English/language arts standards.

About 18 percent of Montana’s schools with eligible students didn’t test. Because some students experienced a testing irregularity during the 2014/2015 assessment, results may not be an accurate reflection of student, school or district performance. The 2014/2015 scores will not be used for state accountability purposes.

Because the Smarter Balanced test is aligned to Montana’s new math and English/language arts standards, results are not comparable to previous statewide assessments.

2014/2015 Smarter Balanced Results – Statewide Average

38 percent of students proficient in math

54,749 math tests scored, out of 76,000 possible test takers

45 percent of students proficient in English/language arts

54,182 English/language arts tests scored, out of 76,000 possible test takers

For Big Sandy schools this was the first state standardized test results we have seen since the CRT exams were given three years ago. The district utilizes other assessment tools to help make data driven decisions in regards to school improvement. Those tests, (ISIP & MAPS) combined with the Smarter Balanced scores, helped verify where we may have areas to address when measured by this assessment data. Big Sandy schools were below the state average in both reading and math this past year. Through the other assessments currently used, we realized this as a district a few years ago. It was obvious that we needed to look at a more current curriculum to meet the more rigorous standards. The process of updating curriculum is a time consuming task and there are no immediate results. The elementary school added a strong research based reading program that meets current standards. This is the second year of implementation for this curriculum. We are seeing positive results based on the district wide assessments and expect to see much higher SBAC scores in the next testing period this spring. Curriculum has been adapted at the 7-12 level to help achieve those goals in reading also. In math, the district is currently researching and will be adopting a comprehensive K-12 Math curriculum to meet the standards of today’s math and will be implemented in the next school year. There is more to a school than achievement tests like the Smarter Balanced, but they are a good tool when combined with other components can help a school district make good decisions for school improvement. If you want to see detailed results for Big Sandy schools, visit the school webpage at http://www.bigsandy.k12.mt.us or you can find results by grade or by school at http://opi.mt.gov/curriculum/MontCAS/Index.html?gpm=1_4