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CAASPP Highlights Template (PC Users).docx

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Smarter Balanced Data Visualization Graphs (School, District, County, and State-Level data) 

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Smarter Balanced Data Visualization Graphs (School, District, County, and State-Level data) 

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These resources contain fillable tables that will generate graphs of aggregated ELA and Math results.

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CAASPP Highlights_Unified School Districts (Grades 3-8, 11).xlsx

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CAASPP Highlights_High School Districts (Grade 11).xlsx

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Provides a student-level Achievement Level comparison for the California Alternate Assessments (CAA in ELA & Math.

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CAASPP CAA Change in Achievement Level Report.xlsx

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Provides a student-level change in the "Distance from Standard Met" calculation from one grade level to the next and offers a comparison between the associated Achievement Levels

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CAASPP Change in Distance from Met (DF3) Student Report.xlsx

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Provides a student-level "Distance from Standard Met" calculation that shows how far each student is from obtaining a scale score that is at the "Standard Met" (Level 3) Achievement Level

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CAASPP Distance from Met (DF3) Student Report.xlsx

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Understanding California Assessment of Student Progress and Performance (CAASPP) Summary Reports

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Understanding California Assessment of Student Progress and Performance (CAASPP) Summary Reports

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Descriptions of Achievement Level Descriptors (ELA & Math), and Claim Levels Descriptors

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2017 Understanding California Assessment of Student Progress and Performance (CAASPP) Summary Reports - CAASPP Reporting (CA Dept of Education)

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Description of California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress and Performance (CAASPP) summary reports.

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Magnolia School District CAASPP Data discussion and presentation

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Magnolia School District CAASPP Data discussion and presentation

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CAASPP Curriculum Cafe from Katie Quinto at Magnolia SD.pptx

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Understanding Scaled scores and Achievement Levels

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After students take the Smarter Balanced assessments, their results are reported in two primary ways: scaled scores and achievement levels. On this page, you can learn more about scores, as well as how achievement levels were determined and how they are used by educators and parents.

Scaled Scores

A scaled score is the student's overall numerical score. These scores fall on a continuous scale (from approximately 2000 to 3000) that increases across grade levels. Scaled scores can be used to illustrate students' current level of achievement and their growth over time. When combined together across a student population, scaled scores can also describe school- and district-level changes in performance, as well as reveal gaps in achievement among different groups of students.
View Percentile Tables for overall English language arts (ELA)/literacy and mathematics scaled scores.
Achievement Levels

Based on their scaled scores, students fall into one of four categories of performance called achievement levels. The tables below show the range of scaled scores for each achievement level for mathematics and English language arts/literacy:

Achievement Level Descriptors

Achievement levels are defined by Achievement Level Descriptors, the specifications for what knowledge and skills students display at each level (i.e., Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4). We refer to these categories as Levels, but each Smarter Balanced member state refers to them in different ways, such as "novice, developing, proficient, and advanced." Students performing at Levels 3 and 4 are considered on track to demonstrating the knowledge and skills necessary for college and career readiness. Detailed Achievement Level Descriptors were written by teachers and college faculty.

The Reporting ALDs document (PDF) describe students' overall achievement for the English language arts/literacy and mathematics summative assessments. Please note states may choose to alter the descriptions or name descriptors.

How were achievement levels determined?

Through a series of online and in-person activities, educators, parents, and community leaders helped ensure the assessments are based on fair and rigorous expectations for students. The process consisted of three phases:

1. An online Panel allowed thousands of K-12 educators, higher education faculty, parents, and other interested parties to participate virtually in recommending achievement levels.

2. An In-Person Panel with educators and other stakeholders working in grade-level teams deliberated and made recommendations for the threshold scores of the four achievement levels.

3. The Cross-Grade Review Committee, a subset of the In-Person Panel, examined recommendations across all grades to consider the reasonableness of the system of cut scores.

About Achievement Level Setting

All Smarter Balanced members were actively involved in setting these new achievement levels. Teachers, parents, higher education faculty, business leaders, and other community members from all of the Smarter Balanced states took part in a highly inclusive, consensus-based process that asked participants to closely examine assessment content and detailed Achievement Level Descriptors to determine threshold scores for each achievement level. Educators who work with English language learners and students with disabilities also were included to help ensure that the achievement levels are fair and appropriate for all students. In addition to the nearly 500 in-person panelists, more than 2,500 people volunteered their time to participate in the online panel.

Approximations of Performance

Although Achievement Level Descriptors are intended to aid interpretation of the four categories, they are less precise than scaled scores for describing student growth or changes in achievement gaps among groups of students since they do not reveal changes of student scores within the four levels. Thus, achievement levels should be understood as representing approximations of levels at which students demonstrate mastery of a set of concepts and skills.

Not the Only Measure

There are other measures that students, teachers, and parents can also use to help evaluate academic progress.

Achievement levels are a reporting feature that is federally required under the No Child Left Behind Act, and one that has become familiar to many educators. However, characterizing a student's achievement solely in terms of falling in one of four categories is an oversimplification. Achievement levels should serve only as a starting point for discussion about the performance of students and of groups of students. There are other measures that students, teachers, and parents can also use to help evaluate the academic progress of students and schools, such as scaled scores, growth models, and portfolios of student work.

In other words, achievement levels should not be interpreted as infallible predictors of students' futures. They must be continuously validated and should be used only in the context of the multiple sources of information that educators have about students and schools.

College-Ready Scores

Achievement Level Descriptors are connected to the expectations high schools and colleges have for what students should know to be ready for college. In particular, a score at or above "Level 3" in grade 11 is meant to suggest conditional evidence that a student is ready for entry-level, transferable, credit-bearing college courses. Students may have to complete additional requirements in Grade 12. Explore the list of colleges that accept Smarter Balanced scores and read their policies for score use.

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Reporting Scores - Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium

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Scaled Scores A scaled score is the student's overall numerical score. These scores fall on a continuous scale (from approximately 2000 to 3000) that increases across grade levels. Scaled scores can be used to illustrate students' current level of achievement ... Read More

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Understanding Your Child's Smarter Balanced Test Results and Supporting Learning in Grades 6-12

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Understanding Your Child's Smarter Balanced Test Results and Supporting Learning in Grades 6-12

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Webinar

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This webinar is designed to help parents of students, grades 6-12, gain a deeper understanding of California's new statewide testing system, what the test scores mean, and how to support your child's learning.
Who Will Benefit

Parents of students in grades 6-12
What You Will Learn

How computer adaptive testing works to find a child's ability level

How to support your child's success on the new tests

How teachers are changing instruction to help students deepen subject matter understanding, think more critically, and apply what they have learned in new ways

Other Webinars in This Series
Webinar Presenter(s):

Carol Lloyd GreatSchools

Ruth McKenna

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Understanding Your Child's Smarter Balanced Test Results and Supporting Learning in Grades 6-12

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This webinar is designed to help parents of students, grades 6-12, gain a deeper understanding of California's new statewide testing system, what the test scores mean, and how to support your child's learning.

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Using Smarter Balanced Assessment Results for District Strategic Planning

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Using Smarter Balanced Assessment Results for District Strategic Planning

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Inquiry-based process for analyzing student assessment results

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This webinar is designed to support senior district leaders and local school board members to work together using an inquiry process to understand Smarter Balanced district results, evaluate their own district results in relationship to comparable districts, and incorporate their findings into overall district planning.
Who Will Benefit

Superintendents, assistant superintendents, and school board members
What You Will Learn

How to interpret and discuss Smarter Balanced Assessment scores and performance

How to use Smarter Balanced results as part of the overall district planning and accountability cycle

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Using Smarter Balanced Assessment Results for District Strategic Planning

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This webinar is designed to support senior district leaders and local school board members to work together using an inquiry process to understand Smarter Balanced district results, evaluate their own district results in relationship to comparable districts, and incorporate their findings into overall district planning.

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Example ELA High School (Grade 11) Statements of Purpose

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Example ELA High School (Grade 11) Statements of Purpose

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Points/Topics of analysis that can be considered for group discussion, report writing, and decision making

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11. ELA Grade 8 Statements of Performance 5-4-18.pdf

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Example ELA Elementary School (Grade 5) Statements of Purpose

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Example ELA Elementary School (Grade 5) Statements of Purpose

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Points/Topics of analysis that can be considered for group discussion, report writing, and decision making

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11. ELA Grade 5 Statements of Performance 5-4-18.pdf

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How to View Test Results in the CAASPP Public Website

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How to View Test Results in the CAASPP Public Website

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Quick Reference

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Comparing Test Results in CAASPP Public Website  

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Comparing Test Results in CAASPP Public Website  

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Quick Reference

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Quick Access Guide

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Information explaining the CAST & CAA for Science Preliminary Indicators

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Preliminary Indicator Communication Toolkit - California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System (CA Dept of Education)

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Information about the science assessments and reporting results.

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Reporting your CAST & CAA for Science Results

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Reporting your CAST & CAA for Science Results

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Resources and information for reporting CAST and CAA Preliminary Indicator results

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CAASPP: Keeping CA students on Track for College & Career

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CAASPP: Keeping CA students on Track for College & Career

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Parent-friendly site that allows users to discover information by grade, test and performance level

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Test Score Guide: CA: California Home Page

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The skills and information our students are learning are meant to help them graduate ready to go on to college and a successful career. CAASPP scores provide one gauge of their progress.

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Parent Guide to the CAASPP Student Score Reports

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Parent Guide to the CAASPP Student Score Reports

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California State PTA Resources

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California's statewide assessment program - called the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) - is part of our state's ambitious education remodeling project.
As of spring 2015, California schools replaced old tests with new assessments built to let parents and teachers know how well students are learning the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in today's world. Depending on school calendars, testing takes place mostly in April and May. Parents should receive their children's reports during the summer.

Score Reports: What you need to know

The CAASPP assessment report uses four achievement levels: standard not met, standard nearly met, standard met, standard exceeded. The levels designate the degree of "progress toward mastery of the knowledge and skills needed for success in future coursework." For 11th-graders, they measure the degree to which students are on track to be ready for college or a career after graduating from high school.

The scores help improve learning for your child. Scores give teachers the opportunity to adjust instruction and give students and parents an idea of which areas should get extra attention each school year and which areas students have mastered.

Like progress on a growth chart, the tests, scores and expectations change with your child's age and grade. As children grow and change, so do the educational standards and related assessments. Although you can see growth from year to year, scores can't be directly compared to prior years, which measured different grade standards.

The scores are just one measure of how your child is doing. These new tests are part of an overall system of assessment including classroom assignments, quizzes, report cards and more.

Ask questions! The score reports generally go to parents before a new school year starts. Parents can start discussions on the score reports with their child's teacher during back-to-school season and during parent-teacher conferences and other meetings.

RESOURCES

Check out these great resources:

What the Scores Mean - Family-friendly explanations about the assessment scores from California State PTA

Questions to Ask - Questions for families to ask to stay engaged in their child's assessment and education

Smarter Balanced Resources - This infographic from California State PTA and Children Now offers answers and resources on frequently asked assessment questions

Early Assessment Program - A flier from California State University, California Community Colleges and University of California outlines what the assessments mean for 11th-grade students

Parent Guides from the CDE - Download the new parent guides from the California Department of Education about the testing system in English or see a full list of parent guides, including grade-level specific information and translation.

What should I look for in my child's tests?

There may be several assessments used by your child's school, including interim or benchmark assessments administered throughout the year, as well as a year-end assessment. These tests allow teachers to check on student progress.

To be worthwhile, all tests should:

Be high-quality. Assessments should measure students' ability to think critically, synthesize material from multiple sources, and analyze problems. High-quality tests are aligned to standards that prepare students for success beyond high school.

Measure what matters. Tests should cover what students learn in class and help predict their performance at the end of the year.

Provide meaningful results that inform instruction. Results from assessments should identify students' strengths and weaknesses, allowing teachers to improve instruction. Tests should provide results that are timely and easily understandable by parents, teachers and students.

Go beyond multiple-choice. Tests should include a variety of questions-not just multiple-choice. Writing prompts and math questions that require students to formulate equations or explain their reasoning demonstrate that students truly understand the content.

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California's statewide assessment program - called the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) - is part of our state's ambitious education remodeling project. As of spring 2015, California schools replaced old tests with new assessments built to let parents and teachers know how well students are learning the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in today's world.

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Communicating results to Parents/Guardians

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Parent and Guardian Score Report Letter Templates - California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System (CA Dept of Education)

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The score report letter is an optional letter that is designed to be sent with the student's score report.

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Ideas around interpreting scale score change from one grade level to the next

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Student Scale Score Growth/Change Ranges

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Student Scale Score Growth/Change Ranges

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Statewide average scale score change ranges between grade levels

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CAASPP Technical Reports and Studies - California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System (CA Dept of Education)

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California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress Technical Reports and Studies.

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Downloadable statewide CAASPP data summaries and cross tabulations for student groups

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2017 CAASPP Statewide Student Data Summary - California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System (CA Dept of Education)

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Downloadable statewide 2017 California Assessment of Student Progress and Performance (CAASPP) summary data for various student groups.

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CAASPP Test Results Public Website - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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CAASPP Test Results Public Website - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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CAASPP Public Reporting - FAQ - California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System (CA Dept of Education)

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Web site for the public to access data about the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress results in various forms.

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Fact sheets, flyers, and power points geared toward teacher and parent understanding of assessment results

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Back-to-School Toolkit - California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System (CA Dept of Education)

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The Back-to-School Toolkit includes resources for school site administrators to use when talking to educators and parents at back-to-school California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress activities.

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An example

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High School District SBAC Data Template.xlsx

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Elementary District SBAC Data Template.xlsx

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Unified District SBAC Data Template.xlsx

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Navigating the CAASPP Test Result Public Website

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Navigating the CAASPP Test Result Public Website

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Quick Reference

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Quick Reference Public Reporting Site 6-13-17.pdf

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Smarter Balanced Data Visualization Handouts (School, District, County, and State-Level data) 

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Smarter Balanced Data Visualization Handouts (School, District, County, and State-Level data) 

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These resources contain fillable tables that will generate graphs of aggregated ELA and Math results, which can then be placed into the provided ELA & Math SBA Results data displays/handouts .

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Smarter Balanced Data Analysis Tool (Student-Level data)

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Smarter Balanced Data Analysis Tool (Student-Level data)

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These resources contain formulas that will generate a student-level reports. There are three types to choose from.

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High School Districts (Grade 11 only) Appendix A - SBA Results Template - 2018.xlsx

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Elementary School Districts (Grade 3-8) Appendix A - SBA Results Template - 2018.xlsx

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Unified Districts ( Grade 3-8 and 11) Appendix A - SBA Results Template - 2018 .xlsx

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Smarter Balanced Data Visualization Graphs (School, District, County, and State-Level data) 

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Smarter Balanced Data Visualization Graphs (School, District, County, and State-Level data) 

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These resources contain fillable tables that will generate graphs of aggregated ELA and Math results. Graphs include three years of scale score growth comparisons, achievement gaps between student groups meeting and exceeding standard, subgroup comparisons at three levels (e.g. District, County, State), and distance from level 3 (standard met) by grade level.

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Slides from the 2017-18 Post Test Workshop

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Spring Post-Test Suggested Guiding Questions 4-25-18 .pdf

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Looking at CAASPP Results (Tips from around the Web) 

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Looking at CAASPP Results (Tips from around the Web) 

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Information and resources regarding the analysis CAASPP Results

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Looking at CAASPP Results (The SDI Toolkit) 

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Looking at CAASPP Results (The SDI Toolkit) 

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Hand-picked information, tips, and resources regarding the analysis and reporting of your CAASPP Results

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Student Results, Target Reports, and Writing Extended Response (WER) scores in ORS

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Student Results, Target Reports, and Writing Extended Response (WER) scores in ORS

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Reminder:Teachers must be ROSTERED in order to see their student's results. Contact LACIS for help rostering students to teachers

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Publicly Available school, district/LEA, county, and state level results 

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Publicly Available school, district/LEA, county, and state level results 

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Official Student Level Results & Data Files in TOMS

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Official Student Level Results & Data Files in TOMS

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Online Reporting System (ORS) User Guide

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Online Reporting System (ORS) User Guide

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Quick Start Guide

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Information on accessing student score data extracts in TOMS

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Quick Start Guide

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Quick Start Guide

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Information from around the web on how to interpret your CAASPP Results

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Information from around the web on how to monitor your student CAASPP Results

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Full report and results Guide

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Webcast, Power Point, and Materials

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Webcast and Power Point

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3.) Analyzing & Reporting your CAASPP Results

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3.) Analyzing & Reporting your CAASPP Results

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Information from SDI and around the web on how to analyze and report your student CAASPP Results

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Information from around the web on how to obtain your student, school-wide and district-level CAASPP Results

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See public CAASPP Results at the school, district, county, and state level

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CAASPP 2017 Test Results for English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics - CAASPP Reporting (CA Dept of Education)

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Starting point for viewing test results for California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress English language arts/literacy and mathematics tests

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CAASPP.org website that provides guides for ELA/Math, CAA, CAST, STS, and RLA student score reports by grade level groupings

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Information about California tests reports and reporting.

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Completion Status & Roster Management Guide

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Completion Status & Roster Management Guide