Idaho recently announced the formation of a committee to review the SBAC exam given to Idaho students. I had applied and was accepted to be a part of this group before withdrawing my name for several reasons. First, the legislature called for this committee to be formed during their last session, ending in the spring. Why did the State Department of Education wait until THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS to bring this committee together? This is a highly inconvenient time for parents to be away from families and teachers to be out of the classroom. At the least, it was very frustrating to me. I was willing to spend the time to be on this committee, but not at the expense of sacrificing this week of children's Christmas recitals, parties, and other holiday events. Second, Idaho is a member of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. We have somewhat of a voice in this consortium (I say somewhat because as I understand it, we signed up in the consortium through Washington state), but we are just one of many states receiving the SBAC exam. If the Biased and Sensitivity Committee finds questions they want tossed from the test, will Idaho be given a separate exam from other states? But wait, isn't that the whole point of Common Core? That everyone will be instructed using the same standards and tested with the same exam? Doesn't the fact that Idaho has formed this committee in the first place imply there is a problem with bias and sensitivity? This committee was formed in response to parents' and teachers' complaints over the field test administered last spring. This is Idaho's way of dealing with the issue and I commend the legislature for taking some action. But I think we are being deceived to think that Idaho has the power to control the SBAC. If there are any test items flagged, what guarantee do we have that these will be removed? Isn't the test continually updated by SBAC with new and improved questions? If Idaho wants control of our testing, we must leave the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.
Can you see why I didn't feel spending a week in Boise away from my family during the best time of the year not seem worth it? I hope my instincts are wrong, but I predict when this committee has finished reviewing the test (and we won't hear anything from them because they were required to sign a confidentiality agreement before participating), the propaganda will continue oozing from the SDOE that Idaho Core Standards (Common Core) are the best we can do for our students and the ISAT 2.0 (SBAC) is the best way to measure those standards. And I will still disagree.
