[MUSIC] This video will explore Smarter Balanced Interim Assessments and how they can support teaching and learning throughout the year. Let's start with why interims are important for students and educators. First, they provide information about what students know and can do, so that both teachers and students can make adjustments to improve teaching and learning. Second, they assess college and career readiness skills like organization, critical thinking, and problem solving. Third, they utilize a full range of item types similar to summative assessments. There are different types of interim assessments based on the scope of content being assessed -  these are the Interim Comprehensive Assessments, known as the ICAs; the Interim Assessment Blocks, known as the IABs; and the Focus Interim Assessment Blocks, known as the Focused IABs. Let's take a closer look at the first type, the Interim Comprehensive Assessments, or ICAs. [SOUND] The ICAs assess the same range of claims, targets, and standards as the summative assessments and provide results within the same achievement levels. There's one ICA for each available grade in English language arts and mathematics. ICAs can help determine the ability level of students who have had a significant period of instruction or who are new to the district. The second type is the Interim Assessment Blocks, or IABs. The IABs address a fairly broad, yet related, set of concepts and skills like measurement and data or reading informational texts. IABs help teachers and students check where they are in their learning and use the results to make adjustments. There are multiple IABs for each grade and content area. The third type of interim assessment is the Focused Interim Assessment Blocks, or Focused IABs. The Focused IABs target a smaller range of concepts and skills compared to the IABs. For example, analyzing research and geometry are Focused IABs. They provide educators with a more detailed understanding of what students know and can do for a very fine-grained set of content. Like the IABs, there are many available Focused IABs for each grade and content area. Interims can be used in many ways to inform instruction. This allows educators and students the flexibility to decide when the assessment is administered, re-administered, and scored. Prior to using interims, educators should establish how they will give the assessment. Meaning, will the environment be similar to a summative assessment or will it be given flexibly in the classroom? When administering the interim like the summative, each student is assigned an IAB to complete individually. With this use, educators can review individual student performance and take action on the students’ results. When using this approach, educators should decide what protocols to use prior to giving an IAB. For example, what level of engagement will educators have with students? Will they take observational notes or answer student questions during the assessment? How might this impact the inferences teachers make about the students’ results? Educators can also use the assessment flexibly as an in-the-moment learning opportunity. For example, educators can use interims as an instructional activity that incorporates group and peer feedback as students work together to complete the assessment. Educators can also use individual items or a set of items as a quick check to elicit evidence of what students know, using whiteboards or sticky notes. These approaches provide immediate data on where students are in the moment, and allows educators the opportunity to adjust teaching and learning strategies immediately. [MUSIC] Like the summative assessments, interims are computer-based and fully accessible. They offer a range of Universal Tools, Designated Supports, and Accommodations for students. [MUSIC] One key difference is that the interims are fixed form assessments, while summative assessments are computer adaptive tests. This means, on the interims, students will see the same items each time they take the assessment. How do you know which interim assessment to give students and when? Before deciding, educators should consider three things: what's the purpose, how will it be scored, and how will the data be used to improve teaching and learning? Most interim assessment items are scored by the computer and reports appear in your state's reporting system. Some items, like open ended tasks, will need to be hand-scored by an educator. Hand-scoring is a valuable professional development activity that allows educators to gain a deeper understanding of grade level expectations. To keep the integrity of the assessment items, they should not be posted or distributed outside of the school setting. In order to share with families, sample items are available on your state's assessment portal. Interim blocks, including the IABs and Focused IABs, are unique to the Smarter Balanced system because each one is associated with a Connections Playlist. Educators can use Connections Playlists in multiple ways. For example, educators can use them to support students by using performance progressions to understand and interpret student interim assessment results; plan instruction by using descriptions of student performance to inform and plan instructional next steps; and take action by using educator created classroom ideas and resources to support student success. The interim assessments, along with the summative assessments and formative assessment instructional supports, are designed to work together to support high quality teaching, improve learning for all students, and prepare students for life after high school. We hope this information about the interim assessments was helpful. Thank you for watching. [MUSIC]