Department of Education Creates New Smarter Balanced Assessment Webpage

The Iowa Department of Education has created a new webpage to help teachers, school administrators and parents prepare for a transition to new statewide assessments in English language arts and mathematics.

As you know, the State Board of Education adopted state administrative rules implementing the Smarter Balanced Assessments, which students in grades 3-11 will take for the first time in the 2017-18 school year.

The new webpage will be an important source of information during this transition. Department staff will update this page regularly with information and resources. Right now, you’ll find overview information about why Iowa is switching to a new state assessment, answers to common questions, links to practice tests and a timeline for professional learning. The Department encourages you to share this link with your networks.