Chapter 5 Test Administration
5.1 Introduction
This chapter provides a high-level guide to the resources for administering interim assessments and an overview of their contents. The resources consist of a
- the Interim Assessment Guide for Administration (IAGA),
- the Implementation Guide for States and Service Providers (IGSS),
- the guidance in the Online Summative Test Administration Manual (TAM) provides “standardized” requirements for test security and administration for summative assessments that should be followed for interim assessments.
These resources are updated for the 2025-26 administration year and available to members on our member portal. As reported in Chapter 3, the interim assessments provide all of the accessibility resources that are available in the summative assessment. An overview of the 2025-26 interim assessments is publicly available.
Teachers have the option to administer interim assessments in a standardized or non-standardized fashion. The online summative TAM is only used for standardized administrations. The interim assessments are considered student and teacher facing. The student- and teacher-facing designation provides educators the flexibility to access the test questions and their students’ responses to the test questions. Because of this flexibility, the interim assessments are not intended to be used for accountability purposes.
While interim assessments may be administered in non-standardized ways, they are not for public use, display, or distribution. Any use, display, or distribution of the interim assessments that result in access to individuals beyond authorized local education agency staff and students is prohibited. Finally, interim assessment items must not be copied into third-party systems without the permission of the state education agency.
5.2 Interim Assessment Guide for Administration
The Interim Assessment Guide for Administration provides information for district/school test coordinators, test administrators, and teachers regarding guidelines for the use and administration of interim assessments. This document is customizable and is updated annually and made available in September of each test administration year. Specific components of the Interim Assessment Guide for Administration require customization to meet unique needs in each member state. These components include:
- Help desk information
- User roles
- Test security policy
- Links to where materials and modules are posted
- Test security/administration training policy
- Role-specific checklists
- Note: Members may expand this list to other topics as needed.
5.3 Implementation Guide for States and Service Providers
The Implementation Guide for States and Service Providers (Smarter Balanced, 2023a) is designed to help member leadership prepare for the administration of the Smarter Balanced assessments.
The information in this manual is for information purposes only. It is not legal advice and does not replace any federal or State laws, regulations, or policies. Readers should contact their federal or State technical assistance resources for guidance about requirements that apply in their jurisdiction.
Each year, Smarter Balanced Governing States (Members) work with their service providers and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) to review and update policies. This includes topics such as participation, test design and development, administration procedures, scheduling, test security, training, scoring, technical analysis, accessibility, formative assessment resources, and reporting. This manual helps Members prepare for the general administration of Smarter Balanced products/services including Summative Assessments, Interim Assessments, and Tools for Teachers.
5.4 Interim Assessment Guide for Administration
Interim assessments are administered online and use the same delivery software as the summative assessments (Smarter Balanced, 2025b). Districts/schools may elect to administer only ICAs or IABs and FIABs or any type of Interim Assessments during the school year. The Interim Assessment Guide for Administration (Smarter Balanced, 2025a) for the online interim administration provides information for district/school test coordinators and test administrators regarding policies and procedures for the interim assessment. This document is customizable and is updated annually and made available in September of each test administration year.
The Interim Assessments can be administered flexibly by teachers to best meet their instructional needs. All student results will note the manner in which the assessment was administered (standardized/nonstandardized). This information is provided when viewing results in the online reporting system.
The development of the test administration manuals was guided by the AERA, APA, and NCME Standards (2014). In regard to test administration, the Standards guide test developers to provide directions that are sufficiently clear to allow for standardized implementation in a variety of conditions (see Standard 4.15). In addition, the Standards recommend that test developers provide sufficient detail so that test takers can respond to items and tasks in the manner intended by the test developer (see Standard 4.16).
5.5 Remote Proctoring Policy
The Remote Administration of Summative Assessment Policy can be found on the member portal, as well as the consideration for implementation. However, this is a member responsibility to follow the test security expectations detailed in the IAGA and TAM under the service provider delivery guidance for remote proctoring. Members will need to customize this document to meet the needs of their specific state/territory, by including state/territory policies and procedures, procedures specific to the test delivery platform, and/or preferential edits that do not impact the validity of the assessment.
5.6 Administration of the Interim Assessments
The interim assessments can be administered flexibly by teachers to best meet their instructional needs. Examples of this flexibility include:
Interim Assessment Types: Districts/schools may elect to administer only ICAs or IABs and FIABs or any type of Interim Assessments during the school year.
Multiple configurations: Members have the flexibility to re-administer Interim Assessments any number of times. These decisions should be made as part of a larger assessment context that includes the purpose of the Interim Assessment, how the Interim Assessment will be scored, and how the data from the Interim Assessment will be used to improve teaching and learning. Members should work with their service providers to determine the maximum number of times Interim Assessments may be administered.
Multiple administrations: The ICA, IAB, or FIAB (including those for the same block) may be administered multiple times within an academic year. Districts and schools may determine the schedule for interim assessments or delegate the administration of interim assessments to teachers. The Consortium will not limit the number of times that the ICAs and/or IABs/FIABs are administered. Members will need to work with service providers to determine contractual expectations related to the number of administrations. Despite this allowance, members should be aware of risks associated with administering these assessments multiple times within an academic year.
- Item over-exposure: Testing multiple times a year limits the item pool available to students, which will increase the possibility of students encountering the same item several times. Over-exposed items are unlikely to hold their original parameters and may skew performance results. Schools and classrooms may want to limit their testing program to either a judicious use of ICAs or to a coordinated use of IABs/FIABs to prevent this.
- These decisions should be made as part of a larger assessment context that includes the purpose of the Interim Assessment, how the Interim Assessment will be scored, and how the data from the Interim Assessment will be used to improve teaching and learning.
- Fixed Forms: There is only one form of each ICA per grade and content area and one form of each of the IABs/FIABs.
All Interims are fixed-form tests so students who take an Interim for a second time see the same questions in the same order.
Within a grade there are overlapping items in the IABs/FIABs and ICAs in each content area and the performance task (PT) is the same whether given as an IAB or as part of the ICA.
Exposure to and familiarity with test questions may affect students’ performance and the accuracy of Interim Assessment results.
Grade Levels: The ICA and IABs/FIABs are comprised of items aligned to the ELA and math content standards in grades 3–11. Administering the Interim Assessments is not constrained by grade level. Students may take an off-grade-level Interim Assessment to help inform educators on skills and knowledge a student has from previous grades, or from an advanced-level course.
Untimed: The ICAs and IABs/FIABs are untimed tests. The time it might take students to complete an ICA under a standardized administration is provided in this document only as a guide. Many IABs administered under a standardized administration can be completed in about one class period, but some may take more than one period.
Hand scoring: With the exception of the math performance task (PT) IABs, all math IABs/FIABs are machine-scored. Most items in the ELA and math ICAs and the ELA IABs/FIABs are machine-scored; however, there are some constructed-response items, including the performance task (PT) that need to be hand-scored. This is a local responsibility. [Note: some Members have elected to use automated scoring for Interim Assessments and they should customize these sections as appropriate including embedding any relevant links or resources.]
5.7 Standardized vs. Non-Standardized Test Administrations
Interim assessments can serve a variety of educator needs corresponding to standardized or non-standardized administrations. Educators may establish the time frame, administration policies, and scoring practices for interim assessments to better support the range of possible uses consistent with member education agency policies.
The distinction between standardized and non-standardized administrations is important because the statistical properties of these assessments, as reported in this technical report, apply only to standardized administrations. The examples of non-standard administrations provided below are useful in the classroom. However, the reliability coefficients, norm-referenced, and criterion-referenced interpretations typically attached to test scores require standardized administration.
5.7.1 Standardized Administration
The Smarter Balanced procedures for test administration recognize the responsibilities of test administrators and provide appropriate guidance as recommended by the AERA, APA, and NCME Standards (2014). Test administrators are advised to carefully follow the standardized procedures (Standard 6.1); inform test takers of available accommodations (Standard 6.2); report changes or disruptions to the standardized test administration (Standard 6.3); furnish a comfortable environment with minimal distractions (Standard 6.4); provide appropriate instructions, practice, and other supports (Standard 6.5); and ensure the integrity of the test by eliminating opportunities for test taker malfeasance (Standard 6.6). Test users are responsible for test security at all times (Standard 6.7).
Standardized administration means that a student completes the interim assessment individually, following the procedure for administration used for the summative assessments. Smarter Balanced created and disseminated the TAM to ensure standardized summative test administration procedures and, thus, uniform test administration conditions for all students in Smarter Balanced member states. The TAM is customizable—modifications by members are referred to here as “state TAMs.” Administrations that follow the procedures described in state TAMs may be considered standardized for purposes of interpreting the statistical properties of the tests, as presented in this technical report.
When administering interim tests under standardized conditions, guidelines in the Smarter Balanced TAM or state TAM should be followed. These include:
- strict adherence to the directions in the TAM;
- ensuring appropriate access to universal tools, designated supports, and accommodations; and
- ensuring a proper test environment (e.g., student seating, providing a quiet environment).
Results from a standardized administration can be interpreted consistently and used as a gauge of student learning that is comparable across students. In this approach, the interim assessment is used to assess learning after a period of instruction, and results reflect an individual student’s mastery of the concepts assessed.
The IABs and FIABs were designed to be completed within one class period. The ICAs are similarly designed in parts to be completed in class periods. Table 5.1 presents the estimated testing times for a standardized administration of the ICA as it follows a format similar to the summative assessment. The estimated times for each session of each content area test provides sufficient time for students to attempt all items. See Chapter 6 in the summative technical report for more detailed guidelines and information about actual testing times for each part (PT and CAT) of the summative assessment.
| Content Area | Grades | Non-PT | PT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELA/Literacy | 3-5 | 1:30 | 2:00 | 3:30 |
| 6-8 | 1:30 | 2:00 | 3:30 | |
| HS | 2:00 | 2:00 | 4:00 | |
| Mathematics | 3-5 | 1:30 | 1:00 | 2:30 |
| 6-8 | 2:00 | 1:00 | 3:00 | |
| HS | 2:00 | 1:30 | 3:30 |
5.7.2 Non-Standardized Administration
Non-standardized administration refers to any administration that is not consistent with the administration requirements of the summative assessment. Some examples of non-standardized administration might include (but are not limited to):
- Administering tests while students answer cooperatively in pairs, in small groups, or as a whole class. Teachers may elect to include some discussion time between test items and may have students hand score items as needed.
- Providing interim assessment resources other than those approved in the Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines (Smarter Balanced, 2025c).
Non-standardized administrations can serve essential goals in teaching and formative assessment. But it is important to recognize that due to their non-standard nature, the resulting test scores may not have the same meaning and reliability as those from standardized administrations.
5.8 Universal Tools, Designated Supports, and Accommodations
All interim assessments are fully accessible and feature all accessibility resources described in the Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines (Smarter Balanced, 2025c). To enhance student access to the assessment content during test administration, Smarter Balanced developed a conceptual model that includes universal tools, designated supports, and accommodations. These are detailed in the Guidelines and are described briefly in the following paragraphs.
Universal tools are access features of the Smarter Balanced assessment that are either provided as digitally delivered components of the test delivery system (embedded) or provided separately from the test delivery system (non-embedded). Universal tools are available to all students based on student preference and selection. Embedded universal tools include (but are not limited to) features such as an English glossary that provides grade- and context-appropriate definitions of specific construct-irrelevant terms, a digital calculator that the student may access by clicking on a calculator button, and a digital notepad. Non-embedded universal tools include (but are not limited to) provision of an English dictionary for the full-write portion of the ELA/literacy performance task and the provision of physical scratch paper for all content area tests.
Designated supports for the Smarter Balanced assessments are embedded and non-embedded features that are available for use by any student for whom the need has been indicated by an educator or team of educators (along with the student and his/her parent/guardian) familiar with the student’s instructional needs. Embedded designated supports include (but are not limited to) features such as color contrast that enables students to adjust background or font color, translated test directions, translated glossaries, and stacked Spanish translations for mathematics items. Non-embedded designated supports include (but are not limited to) provision of color overlays, color contrast that allows printing test content with different colors, use of magnification devices, and use of noise buffers.
Accommodations are changes in procedures or materials that increase equitable access during the Smarter Balanced assessments. Students receiving accommodations must have a need for those accommodations documented in an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 accommodation plan. Like universal tools and designated supports, accommodations may be either embedded or non-embedded. Examples of embedded accommodations include (but are not limited to) closed captioning and test content translated into American Sign Language (ASL) video. Non-embedded accommodations include (but are not limited to) use of an abacus, print on demand, and use of an external communication device (text-to-speech).
Universal tools, designated supports, and accommodations all yield valid scores that count as participation in assessments that meet the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act when used in a manner consistent with the Smarter Balanced Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines. A complete summary of all embedded and non-embedded universal tools, designated supports, and accommodations is included in these guidelines. The Guidelines are updated each year.