The Smarter Balanced Field Test begins this week. There was an unplanned one week delay at SBAC which delayed testing of about 3.1 million students across 12 states until this week. Cascade Schools will begin testing the 3rd Grade this week. Upon completion of the 3rd Grade, the school will schedule the 4th through 8th and 11th graders over the next several weeks. We have until mid-May to complete all testing of the new Math and English Language Arts (ELA). Please note the purpose of this year's tests are to ensure the questions are properly formatted and the process works as it is intended. Test scores will not be counted toward Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) this year, but will be counted next Spring 2015 after the tests have been validated.