Idaho’s new standardized test — the SBAC — could face an important midterm this legislative session. Known as the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium exam, for the multistate compact that created and devised it, the test went through a rocky rollout in 2015. Test results were delayed — and some educators say the time-consuming online test fails to provide useful data anyway. The State Board of Education wants to ditch a requirement making the SBAC a high-stakes exam in 2017 for high school juniors. And a group of plaintiffs has filed a lawsuit seeking to void Idaho’s SBAC contract. Against this backdrop, the 2016 Legislature may take another close look at the SBAC/Kevin Richert, Idaho Education News. More here.