CAASPP Communication: June 2023

CAASPP email update, June 1, 2023.

This communication includes information and updates about the CAASPP .

Urgent Reminders

Submit STAIRS Cases

To ensure that Security and Test Administration Incident Reporting System (STAIRS) cases are approved with adequate time to allow students to complete testing, LEAs should submit all STAIRS cases within 24 hours of the incident and no later than one week prior to the end of the LEA's selected testing window.

Complete Interim Assessment Hand Scoring

In preparation for the 2023–24 school year, the Smarter Balanced Interim Assessments and related systems will experience downtime starting on Friday, July 28, 2023, at 5 p.m. to Tuesday, August 1, 2023, at 8 a.m. During this downtime, student responses will be cleared from the Interim Assessment Hand Scoring System (IAHSS) and will no longer be available for hand scoring. To ensure that student results from all completed 2022–23 interim assessments appear in the California Educator Reporting System (CERS), all outstanding hand scoring must be completed in the IAHSS prior to the system downtime on July 28, 2023.

Designate LEA CAASPP Coordinators

The superintendent designation process for 2023–24 CAASPP testing must be completed as soon as possible in the Test Operations Management System (TOMS) . The deadline to designate LEA CAASPP coordinators is July 1, 2023. If a designation is not made by July 1, 2023, the LEA superintendent will be designated as the LEA coordinator by default. Ensure that a primary coordinator is designated among all LEA coordinators. If a primary coordinator is not designated, then the first created LEA coordinator will be automatically designated as the primary coordinator in TOMS. The LEA superintendent can update this designation after the automatic designation if needed. After July 5, 2023, the primary LEA CAASPP coordinator will be able to add and delete secondary LEA CAASPP coordinator roles in TOMS, along with the superintendent.

Confirm the Accuracy of Role Designations in the California School Directory

The TOMS superintendent role is automatically assigned to LEA superintendents and charter school administrators listed in the California School Directory (CSD) . Administrators of funded charter schools should ensure that the person named in the Administrator field in the CSD is the primary site administrator for the school with the authority to designate roles such as LEA CAASPP coordinator.

Extending the CAASPP Testing Window

LEAs may extend a CAASPP testing window if additional days are required to complete testing. The testing window cannot go past the last day of the instructional calendar. To extend the testing window, the LEA CAASPP coordinator should send an email to the LEA's assigned Success Agent .

The email should include

the test administration number (if the LEA has multiple testing windows),
the current testing window dates, and
the new end date for the testing window.

Please note that extending a testing window requires at least 48 hours for the request to be processed. LEAs must request the extension at least three days prior to their current testing window end date.

Upcoming Dates

Second Scoring for the CAA for ELA

Some LEAs and schools assigned to Form 2 are required to participate in second scoring for the California Alternate Assessment (CAA) for English Language Arts/Literacy (ELA). Participating schools must have a primary test examiner and secondary test examiner present at the time of testing to observe the student's live response to rubric-scored items. All scores must be entered into the Data Entry Interface before the end of the test administration window. For more information, refer to the Second Scoring Requirement for the CAA for ELA archived email.

Apply Now: Upcoming Meetings for Educator Opportunities

The CAASPP Opportunities to Get Involved web page provides information about meetings for educators who want to be involved in the development and review of test questions for California assessment programs.

The fall Item Writer Workshops for the CAAs for ELA and mathematics, the CAA for Science, and the California Spanish Assessment (CSA) are now accepting applications. During the workshops, educators will receive training on how to write assessment items and learn about opportunities to write items for use in future test administrations. Spanish teachers and special education teachers are encouraged to apply on the Educator Opportunities Portal . If you do not have an Educator Opportunities Portal account, you will need to create an account in the Educator Opportunities Database. If you have forgotten your password or have any questions about how to get involved in educator opportunities, please contact the Educator Opportunities Team by phone at 916-228-2682.

CAA for Science Administration Planning Guides

The 2022–23 California Alternate Assessment (CAA) for Science Administration Planning Guides—for grades five and eight and high school will be posted in July, prior to the start of the school year. These guides provide the assessed Science Connectors and include a testing planner to help in preparing for the best time to administer performance tasks throughout the school year. The guides will be posted on the CAASPP CAA for Science Administration Planning Guide web page.

Schools are assigned to one of four forms, and all grade levels within a school have the same form assignment. It is important to download the materials associated with the correct form for the administration of the CAA for Science. LEAs can locate their form assignments by county/district/school code on the CAASPP CAA for Science Form Assignments web page.

LEAs should access these guides early to ensure the careful and timely planning of the four embedded performance tasks over the course of the school year. The CAA for Science testing window opens on September 19, 2023.

Upcoming Trainings

To register or locate additional details about upcoming, including dates, times, or content, visit the CAASPP Upcoming Training Opportunities web page.

June 6: CAASPP and ELPAC Reporting Results Webinar, 1:30–3 p.m.

ETS, on behalf of the California Department of Education, will present the CAASPP and ELPAC Reporting Results webinar which includes information about what data is available from the 2022–23 test administration, how it is reported, how to access results, and what are the intended uses of this assessment data. This webinar is designed to provide attendees with information and updates to make use of the CAASPP, Summative ELPAC, and Summative Alternate ELPAC results at their respective LEA and school sites.

June 8, 15, 20, and 22: Data Leadership Training Series: Using CAASPP Data for System Improvement, 2–3:30 p.m.

Register now for the Data Leadership Training Series: Using CAASPP Data for System Improvement webinar, which provides direct virtual training focused on making sense of CAASPP data within a culture of data use for system improvement to promote equitable outcomes for students.

The training series consists of four sessions that form a coherent learning sequence. Participants can choose to attend either all four sessions or selected sessions.

2023 Interim and Formative Assessment Training Series

Register now for the Interim and Formative Assessment Training Series . This engaging training series will provide direct, online training focused on leveraging the interim and formative components of the CAASPP and ELPAC comprehensive systems of assessment to inform teaching and learning.

It will be composed of three distinct, independent modules with multiple opportunities to attend. Module 1 and Module 2 apply to Smarter Balanced, CAST, and ELPAC interim assessments collectively, while Module 3 includes separate hand scoring sessions tailored to each assessment.

July 18–October 26: Introduction to CERS Trainings

This training is designed for staff and teachers who have access to or manage LEA use of CERS. To register for the coordinator and administrator training, go to the CERS Training for Test Coordinators and Administrators registration web page. To register for the teacher-focused training, go to the Introduction to CERS for Teachers Online Training registration web page.

Ongoing Reminders

Prepare for SSR Electronic Distribution

Collaborate with technology personnel to ensure that connections between the local student information system (SIS) and TOMS are active, which will result in Student Score Reports (SSRs) populating for students in a timely manner, as outlined in the Options for Distributing SSRs section in the CAASPP Post-Test Guide .

Ensure that parents/guardians are notified of when SSRs will become available and that they are aware of how to access the reports for their child.
Note the SIS vendor credentials have a 365-day expiration rule. If needed, regenerate credentials for the SIS to securely connect to TOMS.

Please refer to the Score Reporting web page on the CAASPP website for the estimated SSR release dates. Sample SSRs for 2022–23 available on the Starting Smarter website and CAASPP Sample SSRs web page.

Previous CAASPP Monthly Communications

Previous CAASPP monthly communications, as well as other email communications, are located on the CAASPP Coordinator Emails web page.

Additional Help

Direct questions about policies, regulations, and requirements to caaspp@cde.ca.gov.
Contact your Success Agent for answers to questions about assessment coordination, development, and administration, as well as for technical support.
Direct questions about Moodle , certification, and calibration to moodlesupport@scoe.net.
Get Answers from a new user-friendly lookup tool available to help LEA coordinators quickly find answers to the most common testing questions. Users can also suggest Additional Questions for the FAQ , which will be reviewed on a regular basis.
Chat with Anita, your virtual assistant for LEA help, which is available on the CAASPP and ELPAC home pages. Unanswered questions will be routed to your LEA Success Agent.

Sincerely,

California Outreach Team

CAASPP website