SMART Act 2015-01-20 Introduced in Senate Support Making Assessments Reliable and Timely Act or the SMART Act

Amends subpart 1 (Accountability) of part A of title VI of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to revise the program allotting grants to states to develop and administer state academic content and achievement standards and assessments of student progress toward those standards.

Requires each state to use such grant to:

  • develop and administer such assessments and further align them with the state's academic content standards,
  • ensure that students with limited English proficiency and disabled students are provided with appropriate accommodations to improve their inclusion in the assessments,
  • develop state assessment systems aligned to content standards that support systems of continuous improvement,
  • support local educational agencies (LEAs) in identifying uses of assessment data, and
  • carry out certain other activities to improve the quality and use of state assessments.

Revises the program awarding competitive grants to states to enhance assessment instruments.

Requires each grantee that has not yet received a grant under such program to use the grant to:

  • carry out audits of the state assessment system and ensure that LEAs carry out audits of local assessments;
  • prepare and carry out a state plan, in coordination with LEAs, to improve and streamline state and local assessment systems; and
  • award subgrants to LEAs to improve the quality and use of local assessments and their alignment with state academic content standards.

Requires a state that has previously received such a grant to use a new grant to:

  • carry out a state plan, in coordination with LEAs, to improve and streamline state and local assessment systems; and
  • award subgrants to LEAs to improve the quality and use of local assessments and their alignment with state academic content standards.

Directs the Secretary to provide technical assistance to states to improve their understanding of existing flexibility in the design and implementation of high-quality, streamlined state assessment systems to measure student progress toward state academic achievement standards.

Reauthorizes appropriations for the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the revised subpart 1 grant programs.

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