By Kelli Gile

Walnut – Walnut Valley Unified School District teachers and students have recently embarked on becoming part of an important milestone in the State’s transition to the new assessment system. New computer-based field tests, known as the “Smarter Balanced Assessments,” in English, Language Arts, and Math, launched on March 24 for all students in Grades 3 through 8 at Walnut High, and Grade 11 at Diamond Bar High. Walnut Valley’s testing window is March 24 through April 25.

“It is an exciting time in Walnut Valley as we embark on implementing the new Smarter Balanced computer-based assessments. Our teachers and students are excited to transition to this new testing system. Everyone involved in this year’s field test has been working together to ensure this field test is a positive and valuable experience for our students and staff, ” said Jackie Brown, Director of Educational Programs and Assessment.

“Students, teachers, and administrators will gain valuable hands-on experience in a new era of student assessments,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson. It is a challenging transformation, but our schools are rising to that challenge with a great sense of excitement and determination,” he added.

This “test of the test” will help students and teachers prepare for next year’s first operational test.  Test questions are aligned with the Common Core State Standards adopted by California in 2010 to encourage critical thinking, complex problem solving, and deeper knowledge of subjects. It will also allow the District to assess the quality of the test questions and see how well our technical capabilities meet the demands of the computer-based assessments and see what resources our teachers and schools may yet need. Most importantly, it will give our students the opportunity to experience the new testing system. There will be no student, school, or district scores produced from this administration of the assessment.

“This field test gives us the opportunity to prepare our students for success,” Torlakson said. “The STAR program served us well for years, but the world has changed, and our schools also have to change the way they teach and test their students.”