Interim Assessment Blocks

Based on their individual scale scores and the error band, student results for IABs are reported as one of three reporting categories: Above Standard, Near Standard, or Below Standard. Each reporting category represents a range of scale scores. A student score distribution by reporting category is also provided for group-level reporting, providing educators with the proportion of students that performed within each reporting category.

Reporting categories used for the IABs and FIABs are different from achievement levels used to communicate overall performance on the summative and ICA tests.

The IAB reporting categories that are used to classify students are calculated using the grade-level performance standard, which is defined as the summative (and ICA) cut score between Levels 2 and 3 for each tested grade, as the starting point. The student’s performance on the IAB is evaluated against the grade-level performance standard. (e.g., a student’s scale score for the Grade 3 Numbers and Operations—Fractions IAB is compared to the Grade 3 mathematics summative assessment performance standard as the starting point). Since the SEM represents the uncertainty around a student’s scale score, the SEM is multiplied by 1.5 to create a confidence interval that likely includes the student’s true score. The confidence interval is even larger than the student’s SEM, so it provides greater certainty, or confidence, in the reporting category classification.

Figure 1 below contains a dot representing the scale score for each of seven students being evaluated on a Grade 4 Math IAB. The bars above and below the scale score are the confidence interval, or 1.5 times the standard error of measurement on the test. The dark horizontal line is the performance standard for the summative and ICA Grade 4 Math assessments—a scale score of 2485. If the confidence interval for the student’s scale score on the IAB is completely above the performance standard, as in Students 1, 5, and 6, the student’s reporting category is Above Standard. If the confidence interval for the student’s scale score is completely below the performance standard, as in Students 4 and 7, the student’s reporting category is Below Standard. If the confidence interval for the student’s scale score touches the performance standard, as in Students 2 and 3, the student’s reporting category is Near Standard, regardless of whether the reported scale score is above or below the performance standard. Please note: The scale score of some students in the Near Standard category will be either above or below the performance standard, but not far enough above or below such that we can confidently label the performance as Above Standard or Below Standard.

Figure 1. Comparison between Performance Standard and the IAB Scale Score and Confidence Interval to Determine IAB Reporting Category

Please note that IAB scale scores are derived using fewer items than the overall vertical scale scores on the summative and Interim Comprehensive Assessments; therefore, the standard error of measurement for an IAB or FIAB scale score will be greater than that of the overall vertical scale score.

Since the IAB reporting categories are derived in a different way from the summative and ICA achievement levels, there is not a direct comparison between reporting categories on the IABs and achievement levels on the ICA or summative test. For full technical details on the calculations used, please refer to the Smarter Balanced Scoring Specifications available on the Smarter Balanced website under Technical Documentation.