Smarter Balanced Math Practice
Montana Smarter Balanced Assessment. Smarter Balanced is aligned to the Common Core State Standards for math, which Briveli covers comprehensively.
Spring (mid-March through end of school year, district-selected window)
Computer-adaptive
No calculator in grades 3-5. Grades 6-8 have the embedded SBAC calculator on the calculator-allowed segment of the CAT and on the performance task (four-function in grade 6, scientific in grades 7-8).
Four achievement levels: Level 1 (Novice), Level 2 (Nearing Proficient), Level 3 (Proficient), Level 4 (Advanced)
About the Smarter Balanced
Montana administers the Smarter Balanced math summative to all students in grades 3 through 8 plus grade 10, branded simply as the Montana Smarter Balanced Assessment by the Office of Public Instruction. The state has been a SBAC governing member since the consortium's launch and uses the unmodified consortium item bank, the standard CAT plus performance-task design, and the 2000-3000 vertical scale. Montana is unusual in that it tests at grade 10 rather than grade 11 for high school, which makes the K-8 portion of the assessment the most consequential block of the year for both Title I accountability and the state's GEMS reporting site.
Montana renames the four SBAC achievement levels to Novice, Nearing Proficient, Proficient, and Advanced — the only state that uses 'Novice' as the lowest tier rather than SBAC's default 'Below Standard'. Proficient is the federal accountability bar, and Montana publishes school-, district-, and state-level math proficiency rates each fall on the GEMS (Growth and Enhancement of Montana Students) public dashboard. Family score reports are paper-based and arrive through the district in the late summer; they include the overall scale score, achievement level, and claim-level feedback.
Official source: https://opi.mt.gov/Educators/Teaching-Learning/Assessment
Practice by Grade
Smarter Balanced FAQ
Why does Montana test math at grade 10 instead of grade 11?+
Montana statute and the federal accountability plan designate grade 10 as the high-school assessment grade. The K-8 administration mirrors every other SBAC state, but the high-school SBAC is given a year earlier than in California, Idaho, or Washington.
Where does Montana publish SBAC results?+
Aggregated math proficiency data is on the GEMS dashboard, the Office of Public Instruction's public reporting site, and is also available in raw form through the OPI Data Warehouse for districts.
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