Assessment Spotlight, Issue 213
California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) email update, December 2, 2022.Focusing on the CAASPP System and English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC)—and including, when timely, updates on California’s other statewide assessments. For questions related to test administration, coordination, and trainings, visit the CAASPP website and the ELPAC website .
Reminders and Resources for Administering the CAA for Science
The California Alternate Assessment (CAA) for Science consists of four separate embedded performance tasks, which become available to test examiners each September. By now, test examiners should have begun to administer the performance tasks to their students.
Local educational agencies (LEAs) can refer to the following as they prepare for the administration of the test:
- Test examiners must complete both the General and the Science Test Examiner tutorials each year on the Moodle website prior to the opening of the testing window in September.
- Each year, LEAs verify form assignments by visiting the 2022–23 CAA for Science Form Assignments by Name or CDS Code web page and using the search tool. If a school does not appear on the list, it is automatically assigned to form 1.
- The Administration Planning Guides are available on the CAA for Science Administration Planning Guides web page. These guides provide the assessed Science Connectors and include a testing planner to help in deciding the best time to administer performance tasks.
- Test examiners should review the Directions for Administration for each performance task in the Test Operations Management System (secure logon required) prior to administering a performance task as some orienting activities and items require prework by the test examiner.
- The nonsecure document CAA for Science Preparing for Administration (PDF) provides test examiners with guidance for administering the embedded performance tasks.
The CAA for Science embedded performance tasks are intended to be administered shortly after students receive the related science instruction rather than all in one day or even over several consecutive days. Instead, they should be administered throughout the school year to allow students their best opportunity to highlight what they know and can do in science.
Desmos Art Contest
Desmos Studio, a public benefit corporation aiming to help everyone learn, love, and grow with mathematics, has launched its third annual Global Math Art Contest! This year’s contest is open globally to everyone and is calling for submissions that are based on a combination of the following:
- Expressing a personal story
- Displaying a beautiful visual design
- Incorporating mathematics
Desmos will select 20 graphs in each of four age brackets (ages range from 13 to 19+ years) and will feature those graphs on its website. Every person whose graph is featured will be awarded a prize.
Desmos Studio offers a free suite of mathematics tools, including the Desmos Graphing Calculator used in California assessments, that over 75 million people worldwide use every year. Those tools help people represent their ideas mathematically, connect different representations dynamically, make conjectures, and then develop entirely new ideas—and result in some incredible art! Submissions from previous annual contests have inspired Desmos to add new features, push technological limits, and draw motivation to improve the graphing calculator.
The submission window is now through January 15, 2023. Individuals can submit their entries through the Desmos Graphing Calculator. Contestants must be at least thirteen years old as of midnight on December 31, 2022. Other details, including contest rules and entry criteria, can be found on the Third Annual Desmos Global Math Art Contest website.
Questions about this contest can be directed by email to contest@desmos.com.
Please share this email with any educators in your LEA who would be interested in or benefit from this information. To join the email list, send a blank email message to subscribe-caaspp@mlist.cde.ca.gov. Are you a new subscriber? Visit the California Department of Education Assessment Spotlight web page to find previous issues.