In the coming months, parents of students in grades 3-8 will receive a two-page report describing their child's Smarter Balanced Assessment results.  Parents should understand that the new results cannot be compared with scores on previous state standardized tests, as this year's English language arts and math tests are based on a different set of academic standards.

Instead of using five levels of achievement (far below basic to advanced) like the former California Standards Tests, Smarter Balanced uses four achievement levels: standard not met, nearly met, met and standard exceeded.  The levels will designate the degree of "progress toward mastery of the knowledge and skills needed for success in future coursework."

The second page of the report elaborates on the purpose of the Smarter Balanced test, which, it says, includes a " wider variety of questions than traditional multiple-choice tests and include tasks and test items that require students to explain how they solve problems." It breaks down the overall score into components that the Common Core standards stress. These include reading, writing, listening and research/inquiry skills in the 5 th -grade English language arts test and problem solving, concepts and procedures and communicating reasoning for 5 th -grade math.