New assessment costs, duration might not be so ‘balanced’

After postponements and several years of back-and-forth discussion involving Gov. Terry Branstad and many Iowa educators, it looks like the Iowa Assessments will finally be replaced by the Smarter Balanced battery of tests beginning in the 2017-18 school year.

Superintendent Bob Callaghan used part of Monday’s Newton Community School District Board of Education meeting on Monday to inform the board about some of the challenges students and teachers will face in implementing the new statewide system.

“This will be an extreme stressor going into 2017-18,” Callaghan said. “About 15 states are already using it. The state (Department of Education) has determined this is the route to go. It’s going to stress everyone, partly because it seems much of the material won’t be unpacked until July 1.”

Students in grades 3 through 11 will take Iowa Assessments in the spring of 2017, as they have for years. Beginning in the spring of 2018, students will take English and math assessments, with students in the fifth, eighth and 11th grades also taking a science assessment.

One of the major changes will be the amount of time students spend on testing, Callaghan said. While the current math and reading Iowa Assessments take about 45 minutes each, the online Smarter Balanced assessment materials show each assessment takes about four hours to complete.

“That’s eight hours of testing, each spring, for all students in grades 3 to 11,” Callaghan said. “For our fifth, eighth and 11th graders, that’s 12 hours of testing. It could be split up into multiple days.”

Callaghan said he assumes the state will also assist with funding for the added costs associated with the assessments. Not only must each district have the internet capabilities needed for the online testing, there is a dollar figure directly tied to the assessments.

Teachers will also not have access to some portions of lesson preparation for Smarter Balance until July 1, 2017, Callaghan said. That won’t give teachers and departments long to prepare for assessment-focused lessons prior to the beginning of school starting in August.

Callaghan said the district currently spends about $26,000 on the Iowa Assessments. Estimates for Smarter Balanced, for a district Newton’s size, are between $76,000 and $80,000, he said.

“For the last couple of years, I’ve asked people with decision-making ability to unveil more of the library earlier and pony up the money to fund it, but so far, the state seems hesitant to do so,” Callaghan said.

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com