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The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System was established on January 1, 2014. The CAASPP System replaced the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program, which became inoperative on July 1, 2013.
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California State Testing in 2015
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The assessments that comprise the 2015 CAASPP administration are a mix of online and paper-pencil assessments. The online component contains the Smarter Balanced English language arts/literacy (ELA) and mathematics tests. The paper-pencil component includes CST/CMA/CAPA science tests and the optional STS for RLA.
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Click the image above for information about understanding your child's CAASPP Student Score Report.
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- California Alternate Assessments (CAA):The CAA for English–language arts and mathematics tests are individually administered to students in grades 3 through 8 and 11 who have significant cognitive disabilities. All eligible students are required to participate in a field test of these new, online assessments in spring 2015. For more information, visit http://californiatac.org/about/caa/index.html
- California Standards Tests (CSTs): The CSTs in Science are to be administered to students in grades 5, 8, and 10. For more information, visit http://californiatac.org/about/cst/index.html
- California Modified Assessment (CMA): The CMA for Science tests are to be administered to students in grades 5, 8, and 10 who have an individualized education program (IEP). Assignment of the CMA is made in the student’s IEP only; a student’s Section 504 plan is not to be used to assign a student to take the CMA (although accommodations may be named in the Section 504 plan or in the IEP). For more information, visit http://californiatac.org/about/cma/index.html
- California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA): The CAPA for Science tests are individually administered performance assessments for students in grades 5, 8, and 10 who have significant cognitive disabilities and who are unable to take either the CSTs even with accommodations or modifications or the CMA with accommodations. For more information, visit http://californiatac.org/about/capa/index.html
- Standards-based Tests in Spanish (STS): The optional STS are multiple-choice tests that allow Spanish-speaking English learners in grades 2 through 11 to demonstrate their knowledge of the California content standards by taking a reading/language arts (RLA) assessment in their primary language. STS items are developed by biliterate, bilingual California educators and test developers. For more information, visit http://californiatac.org/about/sts/index.html
Source: http://californiatac.org/about/testing/index.html
Frequently Asked Questions
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Smarter Balanced is a state-led consortium developing assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics that are designed to help prepare all students to graduate high school college- and career-ready.
When will the new assessments be in place?
Smarter Balanced is committed to delivering a fully functional assessment system that will be ready for implementation in the 2014-15 school year.
How is Smarter Balanced different from current assessments?
Smarter Balanced is guided by the belief that a balanced, high-quality assessment system—including formative, interim, and summative components—can improve teaching and learning by providing information and tools for teachers and schools to help students succeed. Timely and meaningful assessment information can offer specific information about areas of performance so that teachers can follow up with targeted instruction, students can better target their own efforts, and administrators and policymakers can more fully understand what students know and can do, in order to guide curriculum and professional development decisions.
Smarter Balanced assessments will go beyond multiple-choice questions and include short constructed response, extended constructed response, and performance tasks that allow students to complete an in-depth project that demonstrate analytical skills and real-world problem solving.
Smarter Balanced assessments make use of computer adaptive technology (CAT) for both the mandatory summative assessment and the optional interim assessments; CAT is more precise and efficient than fixed-form testing. Teachers, principals, and parents can receive results from computerized assessments in weeks, not months. Faster results mean that teachers can use the information from optional interim assessments throughout the school year to differentiate instruction and better meet the unique needs of their students.
What is a performance task?
Performance tasks challenge students to apply their knowledge and skills to respond to real-world problems. They can best be described as collections of questions and activities that are coherently connected to a single theme or scenario. These activities are meant to measure capacities such as depth of understanding, research skills, and complex analysis, which cannot be adequately assessed with selected- or constructed-response items. Performance tasks in reading, writing, and mathematics will be part of the Smarter Balanced summative, year-end assessment. Performance tasks can also be administered as part of the optional interim assessments throughout the year. The performance tasks will be delivered by computer (but will not be computer adaptive) and will take one to two class periods to complete.
How does computer adaptive testing (CAT) work?
Computer adaptive testing adjusts to a student’s ability by basing the difficulty of future questions on previous answers, providing more accurate measurement of student achievement, particularly for high and low-performing students. For more information, download a CAT factsheet and webinar.
Do Smarter Balanced assessments replace the SAT and ACT?
No. The 11th grade summative assessment is not designed to be a college admissions test. Rather, it is designed to help students and institutions of higher education better gauge which students leave high school prepared for entry-level, transferable, credit-bearing work in English and mathematics. That is a different question than whether or not students should be admitted. Colleges and universities often admit students who are not immediately ready for credit-bearing coursework.
Are sample Smarter Balanced assessment questions available?
In April 2013, Smarter Balanced released online Practice Tests that provide an early look at sets of assessment questions aligned to the Common Core for grades 3–8 and 11 in both English language arts/literacy and mathematics. The Practice Tests allow teachers, students and parents to experience the features of online testing and gain insight into how Smarter Balanced will assess students’ mastery of the Common Core.
In October, 2012, Smarter Balanced released sample items and performance tasks that illustrate the variety of innovative item types students will encounter on the Smarter Balanced assessments.
For more information visit http://www.smarterbalanced.org/resources-events/faqs/
Smarter Balanced is committed to delivering a fully functional assessment system that will be ready for implementation in the 2014-15 school year.
How is Smarter Balanced different from current assessments?
Smarter Balanced is guided by the belief that a balanced, high-quality assessment system—including formative, interim, and summative components—can improve teaching and learning by providing information and tools for teachers and schools to help students succeed. Timely and meaningful assessment information can offer specific information about areas of performance so that teachers can follow up with targeted instruction, students can better target their own efforts, and administrators and policymakers can more fully understand what students know and can do, in order to guide curriculum and professional development decisions.
Smarter Balanced assessments will go beyond multiple-choice questions and include short constructed response, extended constructed response, and performance tasks that allow students to complete an in-depth project that demonstrate analytical skills and real-world problem solving.
Smarter Balanced assessments make use of computer adaptive technology (CAT) for both the mandatory summative assessment and the optional interim assessments; CAT is more precise and efficient than fixed-form testing. Teachers, principals, and parents can receive results from computerized assessments in weeks, not months. Faster results mean that teachers can use the information from optional interim assessments throughout the school year to differentiate instruction and better meet the unique needs of their students.
What is a performance task?
Performance tasks challenge students to apply their knowledge and skills to respond to real-world problems. They can best be described as collections of questions and activities that are coherently connected to a single theme or scenario. These activities are meant to measure capacities such as depth of understanding, research skills, and complex analysis, which cannot be adequately assessed with selected- or constructed-response items. Performance tasks in reading, writing, and mathematics will be part of the Smarter Balanced summative, year-end assessment. Performance tasks can also be administered as part of the optional interim assessments throughout the year. The performance tasks will be delivered by computer (but will not be computer adaptive) and will take one to two class periods to complete.
How does computer adaptive testing (CAT) work?
Computer adaptive testing adjusts to a student’s ability by basing the difficulty of future questions on previous answers, providing more accurate measurement of student achievement, particularly for high and low-performing students. For more information, download a CAT factsheet and webinar.
Do Smarter Balanced assessments replace the SAT and ACT?
No. The 11th grade summative assessment is not designed to be a college admissions test. Rather, it is designed to help students and institutions of higher education better gauge which students leave high school prepared for entry-level, transferable, credit-bearing work in English and mathematics. That is a different question than whether or not students should be admitted. Colleges and universities often admit students who are not immediately ready for credit-bearing coursework.
Are sample Smarter Balanced assessment questions available?
In April 2013, Smarter Balanced released online Practice Tests that provide an early look at sets of assessment questions aligned to the Common Core for grades 3–8 and 11 in both English language arts/literacy and mathematics. The Practice Tests allow teachers, students and parents to experience the features of online testing and gain insight into how Smarter Balanced will assess students’ mastery of the Common Core.
In October, 2012, Smarter Balanced released sample items and performance tasks that illustrate the variety of innovative item types students will encounter on the Smarter Balanced assessments.
For more information visit http://www.smarterbalanced.org/resources-events/faqs/