Assessment and Accountability Information Meeting Questions and Answers: Session 1, 8/13/2026 by Krista Pohl

In the ATLAS system, it looks like there is a login button in the top corner. Do you need an account to access?

nantonovich — 2026-08-14 16:24:46 UTC

No. ATLAS is a free online resource for educators that does not require a login to access the tasks and task materials.

However, there is an opportunity for users to create an account to have access to expanded features such as:

--Reading and leaving public reviews on the task

--Creating a personal collection to save task to use in future years

--Creating a shared online space to collaborate with colleagues where you can plan together and share implementation tips

Why are the 5th grade CAST Interim Assessments not broken up by Domain? This would align to how items are presented in CAA and help teams create better alignment to administration?

nantonovich — 2026-08-14 16:25:45 UTC

The Grade 3, Grade 4, and Grade 5 CAST Interim Assessments (IAs) are not domain-specific. They do include grade-level content in Earth and Space Sciences, Life Sciences, and Physical Sciences from G3, G4, and G5 NGSS.

During the development of the CAST IAs, the CDE conducted an outreach investigation that showed instructional scope and sequence varies across the state. The order and combination of performance expectations has significant variation from district to district, even when looking at LEAs with the same overall model.

The format of the CAST IAs was developed to meet the needs of all students in California. 

There are no CAA for Science IAs available.

Is a student who is enrolled at a residential treatment center outside of California placed there by their home school district in California eligible to take the HS equivalency test?

nantonovich — 2026-08-14 16:26:53 UTC

If that student is a California student with a Statewide Student Identifier (SSID), then yes, if they meet the eligibility requirements.

Can you clarify the score needed? Is it a 4 or above, or above a 4?

nantonovich — 2026-08-14 16:27:36 UTC

They need to score a 4 or above.

When will we know if our school has been selected for NAEP? If a school is classified Title 1, is it required to administer?

nantonovich — 2026-08-14 16:35:47 UTC

School selection notifications were sent out in June. If your school was selected as part of the representative sample for the science pilot for this administration year, you would have already been notified. Emails were sent to Principals with district assessment coordinators and district technolgy directors cc'd (if the contact information for these folks could be identified).

Title 1 assurances apply to Main NAEP-which is grade 4 and grade 8 math and reading.

Does the NAEP notification email go just to the superintendent?

nantonovich — 2026-08-14 16:36:12 UTC

The first notification of selection goes to the superintendent. There are several emails that follow.

Districts then receive an email shortly after. After that, school principals receive a school notification email.

From there, I communicate primarily with schools unless districts would like to be involved to help with some of the preassessment tasks like student data or application installation.

NAEP related correspondence seems to have been sent to some random folks within our district. How do we go about getting the contact list for NAEP updated for our district?

nantonovich — 2026-08-14 16:36:27 UTC

I typically find this information on district and school websites, as well as CDE staff lists.

I do try to include several district staff members on my district notification emails so with staff changes, I ask that you respond to that email with updated contact information.

It does happen often. Keeping district websites up to date with contact information would be very helpful.

I noticed that the PDF scores that sync to my Student Information System (SIS) do not go farther than 3 years back. Did this change recently? I remember seeing all historical scores, further than 3 years.

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:08:23 UTC

The Test Operations Management System (TOMS) application passes three years of Student Score Reports (SSRs) to SIS vendors for display in their user interfaces. This configuration has been in place for roughly a year.

Will there be a time when other languages besides Spanish be available? We have many other languages spoken in our schools.

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:08:51 UTC

The Smarter Balanced Consortium conducts a language survey across the all member States to work on providing new languages but currently, Spanish is the only language being translated in the test delivery system for Math and Science.

Why do Chromebooks need to have speech to text disabled? Why do we need to turn off text to speech for all students, even if it's in their IEP?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:09:41 UTC

It is necessary to turn off Text-to-Speech (TTS) in a Chromebook because it is an application outside of the secure browser.

If a student is assigned the embedded TTS, it will appear within the Test Delivery System (TDS), so it is not needed to have it enabled on the Chromebook.

If TTS is not disabled on a Chromebook and a student accidentally accesses the TTS application when they are not assigned the resource, it can invalidate a student's score.

Was the Matrix updated since the 2026-27 has been available for download on the CAASP & ELPAC website?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:10:04 UTC

The 2026-27 Matrix is available on the Accessibility Resources web page of the CAASPP and ELPAC Website at

https://www.caaspp-elpac.org/resources/preparation/accessibility-resources/matrix

What assessments does Patty Paper apply to?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:10:17 UTC

Smarter Balanced for Math for all grades.

I’d like to better understand our district’s workflow for CAASPP and ELPAC accommodations. How should teachers and case managers submit accommodation requests, and what is the correct procedure for entering and verifying these settings in TOMS to ensure students receive the correct support during testing? Thanks!!

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:11:31 UTC

Teacher and case managers should work with their site or LEA coordinators to ensure the correct accessibility resources are assigned to all students. Coordinators will input the resources in TOMS. TA can also verify these resources in the TA interface when assessing students. We have an accessibility webinar scheduled in October for more accessibility related information.

Will guidance materials or resources be made available to assist in the determination of when a student may have used artificial intelligence (AI) to assist them during a remote assessment, so that the STAIRS case may be submitted?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:12:14 UTC

At this time, no, it is expected that the Test Administrator (TA) looks for signs of unauthorized technology being used during the assessment, including AI. If noticed, the TA uses the communication tools available to the TA to direct a student to shut down the unauthorized technology. If the student continues to use unauthorized technology or it is clear that the security of the assessment is compromised, the TA should pause the student from the assessment and contact the site CAASPP coordinator

When will the 2025-26 CAASPP score be available to the public?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:12:46 UTC

The CAASPP and ELPAC aggregate results will be made available to the public, along with the release of the CA Dashboard, on October 15, 2026.

There will be an LEA preview of assessment results in September and a final LEA preview 24 hours prior to the public release.

Superintendents, charter school administrators, and LEA coordinators will be emailed preview access just prior to each preview.

Will students be scored on the field test Performance Task (PT) Items?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:13:03 UTC

Currently, the Smarter Balanced assessments consist of a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) and a PT.

This year, California will be participating in a field test supporting a Smarter Balanced research study on student choice in performance task topic.

Since field test items do not yet have the necessary amount of validity data to be a part of operational scoring, students do not receive a score on field test items. Students who receive an embedded field test PT receive extra items in the CAT which allow full coverage of the blueprint and a valid reporting of scores for the student.

More information will be provided before the start of the summative assessment window.

How much time can we expect the field test questions to take in addition to the current average time for the test?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:13:15 UTC

The Student Choice field test will not take any additional time since it will simply take the place of the performance task (PT).

How will we know if our district will be receiving the field test items?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:13:27 UTC

The student choice field test items are assigned randomly to a subset of students across the state. This is to maintain validity of the field testing. All Test Administrators (TAs) will still use the same testing instructions so schools and TAs will not know if their students are assigned the student choice field test performance task or not.

Will there be a way for districts or individual students to opt out of just the Field Test?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:13:42 UTC

No. There is no opt out for test items, only tests as a whole.

What is meant by, "All PTs will be administered at the same time"?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:13:53 UTC

The field test is embedded in the test so there is no separate "field test" that needs to be administered apart from the regular administration of the Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) and performance task (PT).

Will the Performance Tasks (PTs) for students in grades 6 and 8 who receive field test questions receive valid scores for those PTs that are included in the CA Dashboard calculations?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:14:03 UTC

Yes, students who receive an embedded field test PT receive extra items in the Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) which allow full coverage of the blueprint and a valid reporting of scores for the student. However, the student will not receive a Writing Extended Response (WER) score on their student score report (SSR) or in the data file.

Will the field test Performance Task (PT) items be scored? If not, will the Student Score Reports (SSRs) of the students who get the field test items be different from the students who take the "standard" PT items and will there be a change to the student results file layout?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:14:15 UTC

Reporting for this field test PT will be the same as other field test PTs. Students will receive an overall score, composite claim results, and a Lexile measure. However, students who take an embedded FT do not receive a Writing Extended Response (WER) score because students can only receive results on operational items.

Is there a way to preview field test Performance Tasks (PTs)? Are students randomly selected to get the field test?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:14:31 UTC

No, there is no way to preview a field test item. Doing so would undermine test security and the validity of the field test.

More information will be provided before the start of the summative assessment window.

I'm building a data dashboard for my district/schools, I am pulling the claim data (for ELA and math) and domain data for CAST. Is there a more granular report to see overall performance on the specific targets.

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:15:01 UTC

Target Reports are available in CERS for ELA and math student groups of 30 or more and for target with 10 or more items in the item pool.

And you can find tables with all of the targets in the Content Specifications, found on the Test Development page of the Smarter Content Explorer: https://contentexplorer.smarterbalanced.org/test-development

At this time, there are no reports similar to target reports for the CAST. CAST item specifications can be found at the following web page: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/ca/castitemspecs.asp

Are there plans to provide a fuller target report for math (not just concepts and procedures)?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:15:14 UTC

At this time, there are no plans to expand the target reports in mathematics beyond claim 1. For mathematics claims 2, 3, and 4, items are intended to emphasize the mathematical

practices; therefore, items may align to the content included in several mathematics assessment targets. More info can be found in this FAQ doc: https://www.caaspp-elpac.org/s/docs/CAASPP--Assessment-Target-Reports-FAQs-2022-23.pdf

Are you able to provide examples or further training for when ELPAC domain exemptions should be considered?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:15:49 UTC

The ELPAC Information Guide has a chapter called Assessing Students with Disabilities for English Language Proficiency, with a subsection named Domain Exemptions with guiding questions IEP teams can ask when deciding if a Domain Exemption is appropriate for a student.

We also have scenarios for each domain. For example for the Listening domain: if a student is profoundly deaf and does not understand American Sign Language (ASL) and is still unable to read closed captioning at this time in their education. In this example, the IEP team or Section 504 team could decide to exempt the Listening domain.

ELPAC Information Guide: https://ca-toms-help.ets.org/elpac-info-guide/intro/

I was told that the California Spanish Assessment was not practical for the purpose of State Seal of Biliteracy recognition because the scores don't come in right away. For example, students who test in January don't have the scores until June or July (and we need to know by mid-May for graduation purposes.) Can you help me understand the timeline for score release?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:16:05 UTC

The CSA can be administered once per year at the high school level. Students may use scores from any of the HS administrations to meet the requirements for the State Seal of Biliteracy. At this time, the timeline for score release for the CSA will remain as is in order to ensure quality control for scoring. Feedback from the field regarding scoring is taken into consideration and any changes regarding timeline for score release will be communicated.

You referenced a Test Examiner (TE) and Test Administrator (TA) training slide deck for CAASPP similar to the one just shared for ELPAC. May I please get a link to that slide deck?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:17:04 UTC

Both the CAASPP and ELPAC TA/TE Training decks are available on the Test Administration Trainings and Tutorials web page of the CAASPP and ELPAC website at https://www.caaspp-elpac.org/training-and-communication/training/test-admin-and-tutorials.

The CAASPP deck is in the Training and Tutorial Information section - in the CAASPP Test Administrator Training Materials expansion menu.

The ELPAC deck is in the ELPAC Administration and Scoring Training Information section - in the ELPAC Test Examiner Training Materials expansion menu (at the very bottom of the page)

I would like clarification on the California Spanish Assessment (CSA) for high school. Does this apply for districts that do not have Dual Immersion as program in the district? Or does this mean all high schools at an LEA can use the CSA assessment towards earning the Seal of Biliteracy?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:17:18 UTC

The CSA can be administered to any student in grades 3-12 that seek to measure their Spanish language arts/literacy skills in Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking. You do not need to participate in a specific language program in order to take the CSA.

The Interim Comprehensive Assessments (ICAs) contain two parts: the Performance Task (PT) and the computer-based items. Is there a way for teachers to administer and receive a score on just the PT part, rather than administering both the computer-based and PT parts?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:18:44 UTC

Yes. For each grade-level ELA and mathematics Interim Comprehensive Assessment (ICA), the performance task (PT) is also available as a stand-alone Interim Assessment Block (IAB).

In CERS, is there a way to disaggregate the results for students with disabilities and other subgroups?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:19:29 UTC

No. Certain student-level data such as special education status, foster and homeless status, and free and reduced-price meal information is protected from redisclosure under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and other state and federal student privacy laws. Personally identifiable information about students can only be shared or redisclosed for specific purposes under FERPA and in compliance with all federal and California state statutes and regulations.

How can I promote and encourage use of the CAASPP and ELPAC interim assessments within our LEA?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:19:42 UTC

The CAASPP and ELPAC interim assessments are available to any LEA staff member with an appropriate Test Operations Management System (TOMS) role. TOMS roles are assigned by the LEA or site test coordinator. There are numerous CDE-sponsored trainings that administrators and teachers can attend, or watch recordings of, to learn about the interim assessments, as well as shared practices webinars to hear how other educators use interim assessments locally. The Interim Assessment Lookup Tool is a good starting place to search, using filters, for available interim assessments that align well with the specific instructional content of interest.

Interim Assessment Lookup Tool

Does Tools for Teachers include lesson plans for science?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:20:00 UTC

Yes! Currently, there are 92 lesson plans for science in Tools for Teachers that cover kindergarten through high school. All of the science resources were created by California science educators in collaboration with the CDE.

How can I access the ELPAC Professional Learning Resources?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:20:17 UTC

To access the ELPAC professional learning resources, you will need to sign into your free Tools for Teachers account. After logging in, select the Professional Learning button on the left tool bar, then select Professional Learning Resources. From the search page, type "ELPAC" in the search bar and press Enter to view the resources available.

Where in the California Educator Reporting System (CERS) can I find the file to export with student responses to the interim assessments? Is this new feature also available in the CERS sandbox training tool? Can I produce exports for interim assessments taken in past school years?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:20:29 UTC

This new export is available when viewing an interim assessment in CERS with the Results By Item view. There are new buttons to export the student responses for the entire interim assessment, or for just a single item. This feature is also available in the Sandbox, so educators can learn about, and practice using, this feature in non-secure environment. This feature can be used to export student responses for interim assessments taken in previous years.

Is it possible to get Performance Task (PT) data beyond Writing Extended Response (WER) scores? Nothing is available for math.

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:40:38 UTC

The Writing Extended Response (WER) score is not the same as an ELA Performance Task (PT) score, as there are two items in the ELA PT. There are also no plans to report PT scores for Math.

How will we know if we are a part of the Rotating Score Validation Process (RSVP) this year?

nantonovich — 2026-08-17 15:49:03 UTC

LEAs are notified each spring prior to the Initial ELPAC Administrative and Scoring Trainings. LEAs participating in the RSVP will receive scannable versions of Writing Answer Books, along with further instructions on the process.

LEAs who are unsure if they have been selected for RSVP can use the lookup tool on the CAASPP & ELPAC Website to verify whether their LEA has been assigned to participate in the RSVP. Be sure to direct any questions about test material orders to the LEA’s assigned LEA Success Agent.

RVSP for the Initial ELPAC web page: https://www.caaspp-elpac.org/resources/administration/form-assignments-second-scoring-rsvp/rsvp