CELDT Blueprints
In May 2008, the reformatted CELDT blueprints were posted on the California Department of Education (CDE) Resources Web page. The blueprint identifies the State Board of Education (SBE) approved English Language Development (ELD) standards that are assessed by the CELDT. A preface to the blueprints was posted at the same time.
The blueprints are organized by the four grade spans assessed on the CELDT; these are Kindergarten through grade two; grades three through five; grades six through eight; and grades nine through twelve. Each one of these four tests has 99 test questions that assess four language domains (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). Students in kindergarten and grade one (K-1) currently are assessed only on the listening and speaking domains, which consist of 40 questions each. The ELD standard under each domain reflects a skill that English learners are expected to have mastered at that specified proficiency level.
K-1 Early Literacy Assessment
Over the past several years, CDE has made changes to the CELDT to be able to comply with Title III of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. For example, the listening/speaking scale now has separate scale scores reported for listening and speaking. Also, a comprehension score has been added which is the average of the listening and reading scale scores. Finally, in August 2007, urgency legislation was passed amending Education Code Section 60810 and authorizing CDE to develop early literacy assessment of English learners (ELs) in K-1.
CDE has contracted with WestEd to conduct the initial item development work for the K-1 Early Literacy Assessment. WestEd will develop test questions that are aligned to ELD standards. To begin this development effort, WestEd convened a panel of English Language Proficiency (ELP) experts, early literacy experts, and experts in early child development/curriculum on May 28, 2008, to provide critical guidance to the development of the CELDT K–1 reading and writing test questions. WestEd is incorporating the guidance from the panel in its item development to ensure the appropriateness of this assessment for this population of students.
WestEd will conduct content and bias and sensitivity reviews in August. If you are interested in serving as a reviewer, please contact Kristen Brown in the CELDT Office at kbrown@cde.ca.gov or call 916-323-6860 for more information.
Pre-Administration Trainings for District Coordinators for 2008-2009
CTB/McGraw-Hill, the current CELDT contractor, has successfully conducted 17 workshops offered throughout the state to prepare CELDT District Coordinators (CDC) to administer and reliably score the CELDT. The mandatory Pre-Administration Train the Trainers Workshops for the 2008-09 Edition of the CELDT are provided to individuals who will be trainers of test examiners during the 2008-09 school year. The participants learned about scoring rubrics and item types, received an update on the 2008-09 Edition of the CELDT, and practiced scoring. Accurate and reliable scoring is essential to obtain valid CELDT results.
The initial workshops began on April 29 and concluded on June 5, 2008. If you were unable to attend one of the earlier workshops, contact the CTB McGraw-Hill Help Desk at 1-800-994-8594 or email ctbceldthelpdesk@ctb.com to register for one of the five make-up workshops to be held in August.
CELDT 101 Update
The new online WebEx training called CELDT 101: General Test Administration Training for District Coordinators was successfully presented on May 30, 2008 to over 100 on-line participants, with one more to follow on August 4, 2008. This training is not mandatory; however it provides an in-depth orientation for new CELDT District Coordinators and serves as a refresher and update for returning CELDT District Coordinators.
The CELDT 101 update will be archived on the Internet for access during the 2008-2009 school year. You can access this presentation on the CTB McGraw-Hill web site (Outside Source).
Released Test Questions
The Released Test Questions (RTQs) were posted by the Standards and Assessment Division in May 2008. The purpose of this document is to provide RTQs from the CELDT administrations (2003-04 through 2005-06) for use by site and district administrators and teachers who work with English learners. Permission to reproduce the RTQs is allowed for educational purposes. The content must remain unchanged and in its entirety as published by CDE. To obtain permission to reproduce the information (text or graphics) contained in this document or any other CDE materials for any commercial purpose, submit the specifics of your request in writing to the Copyright Program Office, CDE, CDE Press, 1430 N Street, Suite 3207, Sacramento, CA 95814.
Erratum:
If you previously printed the RTQs, the first line on page 9 has been corrected to “This report contains 62 released test questions,” not 48 released test questions.
