Smarter Balanced, CAST, and CAAs for ELA and Mathematics: Reports and Results Available on July 13

CAASPP email update, July 12, 2021.

Dear LEA CAASPP Coordinator:

Test results for the 2020–21 online Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for English language arts/literacy (ELA) and mathematics, the California Science Test (CAST), and the California Alternate Assessments (CAAs) for ELA and mathematics will be released on July 13, 2021, in the Test Operations Management System (TOMS), student information system (SIS) vendor portal, and the California Educator Reporting System (CERS).

These results will be available for students who took the ELA or mathematics assessments of the online CAASPP Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments, the in-person CAAs, or the online CAST.

Test Operations Management System

Local educational agency (LEA) CAASPP coordinators and CAASPP test site coordinators will be able to use TOMS to find 2020–21 student results, as well as other metrics illustrating reporting percentages and score status, using standard TOMS functions.

MyTOMS at a Glance Score Reporting Status Widget

LEAs can view the score reporting percentage for their LEA in TOMS. To view this widget, select the [Home] button in the top-right corner of the TOMS screen.

Student [Score Status] Tab

The [Score Status] tab of a student's profile in TOMS allows the user to access score status information for an individual student by content area.

Student [Reporting] Tab

The [Reporting] tab of a student's profile in TOMS allows the user to access the following information about an individual student:

• A downloadable Student Score Report (SSR) PDF (to appear as a link when available)
  • An SSR in English
  • An SSR in the student's primary language or other available language (if this was requested before July 30, 2021)
• The language of an additional SSR

Electronic SSRs

Users can access and download SSRs individually or as one large file. Refer to the How to Download Student Score Reports (SSRs) in TOMS video and the How to Bulk Download Student Score Reports quick reference guide for additional details.

CAASPP SSRs can be provided to parents and guardians electronically, as PDFs, through a locally provided parent or student portal, or through another chosen method of local distribution. Contact the LEA's parent or student portal provider for instructions on accessing electronic SSRs for 2020–21 from that vendor.

For more information about electronic SSRs, refer to the CAASPP Student Score Report (SSR) Options web page. SSRs can be printed locally, but paper SSRs are not available for purchase this year.

Lexile® and Quantile® Measures Reports

In addition, students who took the Smarter Balanced assessments will have a new report available that provides the students' Lexile® and Quantile® measures based on their Smarter Balanced for ELA and mathematics scores. These measures help teachers and families find texts and materials for students that are appropriately challenging. LEAs are not required to distribute the Lexile and Quantile Measures Reports to parents and guardians. These measures reports can be made available in the LEA's parent or student portal if the SIS vendor has used the most updated Application Programming Interface Specifications web document.

Student Score Data File

The 2020–21 student data file will be available in the "Reports" section of TOMS. The student data files will include scores for the online Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for ELA and mathematics, the CAAs for ELA and mathematics, and the CAST.

LEAs will be able to download the student data file in two report types: by enrolled LEA and by tested LEA. The Enrolled LEA file will contain data on students who were enrolled in your LEA, in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, when the testing window closed or as of May 27. The Tested LEA file will contain data on students who tested with your LEA during the 2020–21 school year.

The data file will not contain student scores for the CAA for Science or the California Spanish Assessment (CSA), as these will be made available in the fall. It also will not reflect your LEA's aggregated student results, which will be available with the embargoed preview on the Test Results for California's Assessments public web reporting site in fall 2021.

Aggregate data is based on students' enrolled school at the time the test was taken, the county or district of accountability, as well as other data aggregation rules. LEAs should consider the volume of students tested when using these results to make decisions. LEAs that were able to test a majority of students may have a more accurate picture of overall performance than LEAs that tested only a few students.

The demographic data for your enrolled students is based on the following:

• If your LEA's selected testing window closed before May 27, 2021, the demographic snapshot was taken after the selected testing window closed for your LEA's CAASPP administration and cannot be corrected.
• If your LEA's selected testing window was still open as of May 27, 2021, the student demographic snapshot was taken on May 27, 2021, and the data file will reflect the demographics as of that date. Your LEA's final data file for the year will reflect the demographics as of the date your LEA's selected testing window closed or will close.

Accessing the CAASPP Student Score Data File

The 2020–21 CAASPP Student Data File Layout is available on the CAASPP Score Reporting web page and in TOMS ; it appears when you select the CAASPP Student Score Data File from the Available Reports list. The student data file layout includes field descriptions, acceptable values for fields, and data sources.

You will take the steps outlined in the "CAASPP Student Score Data Extract Report" section of the TOMS User Guide to access the CAASPP Student Score Data File in TOMS. Please note that LEA's score data file will be available in Excel format. For larger LEAs, the Excel file will be split into multiple tabs.

California Educator Reporting System

Student results as well as partial aggregate results at the group, school, and LEA levels will be available in CERS.

Please note that the results available in CERS are partial and may not be an accurate representation of your school's or LEA's final aggregate results. As a real-time system, these results will change as additional data is received and relevant appeals are processed.

Because your school's or LEA's final aggregate results may be higher or lower than the partial results posted to this system, the partial results are not appropriate for public release.

LEA CAASPP coordinators and CAASPP test site coordinators will be able to use standard CERS functions to find and view student results.

Accessing Information in CERS

• To view these results, LEAs can access CERS using a TOMS user account.
• To access these results, LEAs can search by student, school, or assigned groups from the "Access Assessment Results" section of the CERS landing page.
• To download a file containing student results, LEAs can select the [Custom Aggregate Report] button and customize a yearly, longitudinal, claim or domain, or target report for an LEA or school. Claim reports and target reports are not available for the Smarter Balanced summative assessments for the 2020–21 administration year.
• To export a CSV file containing all LEA or school assessment results that can be used for analysis in another application, LEAs can also select the [District/School Exports] button.

For more information, please refer to the CERS User Guide .

Reporting for the CAA for Science and the CSA

This year, the analysis and scoring processes for the CAA for Science and the CSA will take additional time. As a result, electronic SSRs for the CSA will be available in September 2021. CAA for Science preliminary indicators will be available in a separate file in late September 2021.

Questions regarding CAASPP reporting for the 2020–21 administration should be directed to CalTAC, by phone at 800-955-2954 or by email at caltac@ets.org.

Sincerely,

California Technical Assistance Center
Phone: 800-955-2954
Fax: 800-541-8455
Email: caltac@ets.org
Websites: https://www.caaspp.org/