Smarter Balanced Math Practice

About the Smarter Balanced

Connecticut administers the Smarter Balanced math assessment to students in grades 3 through 8 each spring, with most districts opening their testing window in late March and closing in early June. The state contracts directly with Cambium Assessment to deliver the test through the Connecticut Comprehensive Assessment Program platform, and the Connecticut State Department of Education publishes annual results on EdSight, the public reporting portal. Districts choose their own internal schedule inside the statewide window, so administration dates vary by school, but every Connecticut student in those grades sits the same item bank.

Because Smarter Balanced is computer-adaptive, the difficulty of items shifts in response to student answers, and questions include selected-response, technology-enhanced drag-and-drop or graphing items, constructed response, and a multi-step performance task. Connecticut reports a four-level proficiency designation along with a numeric scale score in the 2000s range, and parents receive an Individual Student Report that breaks down performance by claim area: Concepts and Procedures, Problem Solving and Modeling, and Communicating Reasoning. The state also reports growth using the Connecticut Growth Model, which tracks year-over-year scale-score change.

Connecticut treats Smarter Balanced primarily as an accountability and reporting tool rather than a high-stakes promotion gate, and there is no statewide policy that retains a student in grade based on the score. Results feed the Next Generation Accountability System and inform district designations, but classroom placement decisions remain local. Connecticut also operates an interim assessment block library and the Tools for Teachers formative resource site, both included with the SBAC contract, which lets teachers use shorter practice tests during the year.

Official source: https://portal.ct.gov/SDE/Student-Assessment/Smarter-Balanced