Funds will go to testing with new Common Core standards

Tuesday afternoon the Pocatello/Chubbuck School Board met in an executive session regarding how it would spend the $441,000 levy approved at the beginning of the current school year. The money will be used for the new SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) tests.

The district plans on spending about $286,000 for upgrades to the network and additional computers. They will also spend about $40,000 on additional staff (proctors) for the exams that will be held Apr. 1 through May 15.

The school district said it wants parents to feel informed about the new tests being piloted under the new Common Core standards, so they have made the practice tests available online.

“Those practice tests were specifically designed for teachers, for parents and for students to they could understand what’s being tested and how it’s being tested,” said Kathy Luras, Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator.

Find the SBAC practice test questions here:http://sampleitems.smarterbalanced.org/itempreview/sbac/ELA.htm.