Smarter Balanced is a standardized consortium that is both a valid and reliable approach to student assessment (http://www.smarterbalanced.org). Aligned with the Common Core State Standards, SBAC has three major components: the Digital Library, Interim Assessments, and Summative Assessments. These are designed to measure learning throughout the year as well as to support teaching. Almost 5,000 educators contributed to the development of Smarter Balanced. Teachers helped write the test questions, create the tools within the Digital Library, and also decided the appropriate achievement levels to indicate how students met the standards (http://www.smarterbalanced.org). Smarter Balanced was created to be more than just the right or wrong answer.
