North Dakota is joining the “Smarter Balanced” consortium – to help the state with student assessments.
State school superintendent Kirsten Baesler says the consortium’s charge is to develop tests to gauge student progress. She says the assessments will help teachers determine what their students need. And Baesler says there will be an opportunity to test 9th and 10th grade students.
"Something's happening between 8th grade, when we last assess them, and 11th grade, when student drop out or show a lack of performance," said Baesler. "The opportunity to have a 9th and 10th grade test may give us some insight into what is going on there, and what areas specifically are our students struggling with, and we can then adapt our instruction and our curriculum."
Baesler says the 9th and 10th grade tests will be optional. She says the new assessments should be ready for the 2014-2015 school year.
