Throughout San Mateo County and across the state, students, teachers and curriculum leaders at county offices of education are getting ready for the spring field tests of the new Smarter Balanced Assessments. These new tests, which will replace California's STAR tests, will be given in a "low-stakes" environment this spring. No scores will be reported, giving students and schools the opportunity to become familiar with the test, the kinds of skills required to be successful, and allowing the state and test developers the opportunity to "test the test" delivery system and items before the operational version of the test goes lives in the 2014-2015.

The Smarter Balanced Assessments are different from the STAR tests in several ways. These new assessments will be administered on computers online and the types of questions students answer will be progressively adaptive, based on the student's responses to each question. Students will also be required to answer longer performance-based items. Gone are the fill-in-the-bubble multiple-choice tests; Smarter Balanced Assessments require students to use critical thinking skills and demonstrate mastery of the new Common Core State Standards curriculum.

Students in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11, and a small sample of students in grades 9 and 10 will take the field test in English language arts and mathematics, and a performance task in one area. Schools are revamping instruction to meet the requirements of the Common Core as well as making sure they have the Internet bandwidth and technological capacity required for students to take these tests online.

The San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE) Instructional Services division has been working closely with school district staff to prepare them for these shifts in both instruction and assessment. The California Department of Education (CDE) has been posting resources online and sending out field test flashes, updating news about the coming assessments. Soon CDE will have available a Smarter Balanced Assessment digital library of tools, including a bank of interim and formative assessments for teachers to use.

"We've been working with school districts, encouraging them to start scheduling the tests, taking into consideration the number of computers required, Internet bandwidth, availability of proctors and test security," notes Lorrie Owens, Administrator, Information Technology Services, at SMCOE. "Scheduling these tests is a lot more complicated given the technology component." The iZone has also been working with districts, addressing inequities in technology preparedness across the county's schools and finding ways to support districts with their technology needs.

"While this shift signals a positive change in the way that we assess students, any such large scale change in assessment also requires us to think in newer and deeper ways about student learning and the kind of instruction that genuinely prepares students to be able to do more than just memorize facts, but to think at a higher level, to apply what they know, and synthesize knowledge," adds Gary Waddell, Deputy Superintendent, Instructional Services Division. "It is a significant advantage to have this year for our schools to truly focus on the Common Core State Standards and experience these new forms of assessment in a low-stakes environment."

To learn more about the Smarter Balanced Field Test, check the CDE website here.

To receive up-to-the-minute Field Test flashes from CDE, send a blank email to: CAASPP@mlist.cde.ca.gov

Rebecca Vyduna (pronounced V-Eye DOON-a), formerly Education Services Coordinator in the Curriculum and Instructional Services division at the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE), took the helm at the SMCOE STEM Center in January, following the birth of her daughter and a three-month maternity leave.

She says what drew her to apply for the

Rebecca Vyduna is the new director of the STEM Center at the San Mateo County Office of Education. .

position was the outstanding caliber of the STEM team at the County Office and her own passion for technology. Married to the co-founder of an ed-tech startup, she notes that technology permeates her conversations at home as well as at the office.

 Prior to becoming STEM Center Director, Vyduna also served as a Networks for Success Coordinator at the County Office, working with schools in Program Improvement. And before that she was a school principal in the South San Francisco Unified School District. "It became clear to me when I was a school principal visiting classrooms," she says "that there are opportunities with STEM to innovate in the ways we teach and we need to do business differently in order to prepare students for success in college and careers."

Vyduna has several goals for the STEM Center as she begins as Director. She envisions the STEM Center continuing to offer professional development and support to districts around science and math instruction, as well as integrating English language arts. "Technology is the key to tying everything together, and fits well with the implementation of the Common Core," she notes.

The Common Core provides an opportunity for more online collaboration. The STEM Center can help in that regard, she says, by providing the venue for online training and collaboration through webinars, ongoing courses and online professional learning communities. "Through our capacity for online training at the STEM Center, we eliminate the barrier of having to leave the school site to come to the County Office," she adds.

Also on her agenda will be renewing ongoing grants from the Oracle and Heising-Simons Foundations, and seeking new grant opportunities.

Vyduna's spare time is limited, with a new position at SMCOE and a new baby at home. But she's hoping to make time in the not-too-distant future for her hobbies-digital crafting (including scrapbooking online), reading and listening to audio books, and gourmet cooking, a passion she shares with her husband. But for right now, she admits, she's lucky just to get dinner on the table.