Share your expertise, and impact teachers and students across the country

1. Currently certified or licensed to teach ELA/literacy or Mathematics in a K–12 public school or certified in the areas of accessibility, diversity, equity, or inclusion; and
2. Currently teaching in a public school or currently employed by a public school, district or state education entity including higher education located within a Smarter Balanced member state; and
3. Within the past three years:
   • Have taught ELA/literacy or Mathematics in grades 3 through 8 and/or high school or have worked in a classroom content support role such as a literacy or district or state content specialist.  AND/OR
   • Have taught diverse students in grades 3-8 and/or high school, including but not limited to students of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds, gender identities, English learner status, disability status, socio-economic status, urban/suburban/rural location.
4. Have previously reviewed part or all of the Common Core State Standards for the content area in which they are interested in working.
5. For item writing, all educators must submit a statement of interest upon request that describes (a) the reason(s) for their interest in developing items for the Smarter Balanced assessment system and (b) their qualifications for doing so.

Educators who have documented expertise in the areas of science and/or social science may apply for ELA/literacy item review.

Some activities will have additional preferred experience qualifications.

Educators can apply by submitting the online application form. Your state's Teacher Involvement Coordinator (TIC) will recommend a limited number of qualified education employees from your state to participate.

Smarter Balanced and respective contractors will select educators to serve based on recommendations from each state’s TIC and a balance of geographic region, grade levels, years of experience, and other demographic data.

Participants may receive a personal stipend for weekend or summer work, and substitute reimbursement will be offered for work on the weekdays when a substitute teacher is required.

Not all Content Development events happen every year. Check out the Calendar to find out about current opportunities!

Item Writing

Educators participating in item review for content alignment may also be assigned sets of items to write during the first phase of development. Assignments will range from 10–25 items depending on the task model and content assigned. Assignments will take approximately 20 hours to complete following the item review meeting. Educators will have approximately one month to complete the item writing assignment.

Item Review

Educators will complete a virtual synchronous review of pre-field test items for English language arts/literacy or Mathematics considering content, fairness, and accessibility criteria. Smarter Balanced item quality criteria will be provided to item reviewers at the beginning of the meetings. Sometimes Item Reviews include other types of special work depending on what we are able to get educators involved in (such as the Math ALD reviews).

ELA Passage Review

Educators will review newly selected ELA passages for content, bias and sensitivity, and grade appropriateness. This meeting would be fully virtual and a mix of synchronous and asynchronous work.

Rangefinding and Data Review

At Rangefinding, educators will review student responses for field test items and confirm scores related to the rubric. At a subsequent Data Review meeting, a different group of educators will review English language arts/literacy or mathematics items with statistical flags of the field test data to determine if the items are appropriate for inclusion in the Smarter Balanced item bank. Reviewers will receive training on interpreting the statistical flags and the review process at the beginning of the data review process. Data review may be a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous work.

Smarter Balanced will plan for virtual educator events. Some events may require asynchronous work before, during, or after the event. Educators will be compensated as defined in the invitation letter.  

Some events are a day or two of work, and some may be a full five-day workweek. Refer to specifics in the "types of activities" section to see which timelines each event may expect to have.

Virtual

After selecting and confirming the participants, a designated contractor will work with participants to coordinate virtual attendance. Participants will receive training and relevant digital materials prior to meeting. The contractor and Smarter Balanced will provide technical support to participants. The meetings are expected to occur on Zoom and accessibility accommodations will be available for participants who need them.  

In-person

After selecting and confirming the participants, a designated contractor will work with participants to coordinate travel arrangements, including airfare and lodging. Participants will receive training and relevant digital materials prior to meeting. The contractor and Smarter Balanced will facilitate the in-person meeting and manage issues and requests as necessary. Accessibility accommodations will be available for participants who need them.