Smarter Balanced Assessments Implementation Put On Hold

In an email to superintendents this week, Ryan Wise, Director of the Iowa Department of Education, said that the administrative rules proposed by the State Board of Education (IAC 281.12) to implement the Smarter Balanced Assessments beginning in 2017 were put on hold this past Friday, when the proposed rules came up for a second review before the Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee. These reviews are a required part of administrative rules adoption.

After raising questions about the State Board’s legal authority to adopt a state accountability assessment, the committee voted unanimously in favor of a session delay on the proposed rules. A session delay means that the effective date of the rules implementing the Smarter Balanced Assessments will be delayed until the end of the 2016 legislative session, unless legislators take action on assessment during the session.

Wise noted that putting in place a state assessment that accurately measures how students are progressing toward state standards is a critical part of the work to prepare Iowa students for success in college and in the workforce. And according to Iowa Code, a new assessment must be in place in schools by the 2016-17 school year.