DATA PRIVACY:
West Virginia
General Summative Assessment
West Virginia’s alignment of its Next Generation Standards with the Common Core State Standards and its use
of the Smarter Balanced English language arts and mathematics assessments as part of the West Virginia
General Summative Assessment does not compromise the privacy of student data.
Assessment Vendor Data Privacy:
The vendor for the statewide administration of the West Virginia General Summative Assessment is
American Institutes for Research (AIR). AIR provides the computer platform for the assessment, scores
the assessment, and provides reports to parents and teachers/schools. The WVDE contract with AIR
contains numerous provisions to safeguard and maintain the privacy of student data. AIR is precluded
from providing any identifiable student information to any unauthorized third party. AIR is precluded from
providing any identifiable information to the Smarter Balanced Consortium/CRESST or to the United States
Department of Education.
Smarter Balanced Consortium Data Privacy:
West Virginia has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Smarter Balanced Consortium/
National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST) regarding the
development and validation of questions for the Smarter Balanced Assessment. The WVDE will provide
de-identified student assessment results to the Smarter Balanced Consortium/CRESST so that assessment
questions can be validated and calibrated. The de-identification of the data means that the Smarter
Balanced Consortium/CRESST will only know that a student is from West Virginia and will have no other way
to identify the student by name, school, city or county.
No identifiable student data will be sent to or otherwise made available
to the United States Department of Education, other vendors, advocacy
groups or any other entity by the WVDE, the testing vendor (AIR), or the
Smarter Balanced Consortium/CRESST as a result of West Virginia’s
use of our Next Generation Standards or Smarter Balanced Assessment
items on the West Virginia General Summative Assessment.
Michael J. Martirano, Ed.D.
State Superintendent of Schools