The Manhattan Beach Unified School District administration initiated a pilot program for the Smarter Balanced Assessment System, as created by the state of California in conjunction with the new Common Core academic standards. This new test is meant to correlate with the standards for English language arts and mathematics. Although the assessment seems to test national standards more in-depth than previous standardized testing, its “robo-grading” method makes its actual implementation questionable.
According to Costa Vice Principal Deborah Hofreiter, this new test is more practical because it has short-answer questions in addition to multiple choice questions. Because this test does indeed consist of research- and evidence-based questions, testing students’ knowledge is taken to a much deeper level. The new test measures student readiness for college and careers more effectively because students must synthesize their own answer, rather than simply recognizing a correct answer. However, the question as to whether or not a computer can accurately grade these short answer questions is at the forefront of the problems concerning this test.
The essay portions of the tests are scored by machines, called “robo-graders,” which have various developmental flaws that invalidate their grading ability.
According to a study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers Damien Jiang and Louis Sobel, the machines score essays solely based on length and the presence of advanced language. This kind of grading does not accurately reflect a student’s writing ability; therefore, the process or algorithm should be altered to evaluate students’ meaning, coherency and clarity of their writing. If an algorithm of this sort is too difficult to create, the use of actual human graders would be a viable option.
Costa English teacher Bradi Leigh Everett believes that more time for teacher training would yield increased student readiness. This training has fortunately been worked into the final negotiation agreement between the teachers and the administration, allowing for an additional four mandatory professional development days for the 2014-15 school year. This training will prepare teachers to teach to the new standards and better prepare students for the test.
This year, only 11th graders were tested in order to try the new program. This led to the implementation of four block schedule days to allow for juniors to complete these tests during two-hour English periods. However, the actual grade levels that will be tested next year is unknown, as California can dictate a change at any point, according to Hofreiter. It is important for the administration to have adequate foresight in order to ensure that there is enough available technology for the school to accommodate all students during testing.
Although the implementation of the Smarter Balanced Assessment System does seem to test standards more in-depth, its “robo-grading” techniques are ill-developed. Additionally, the implementation method of this test must be revised in order to ensure that there are ample facilities for all students who must take it.
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