Assessment Spotlight, Issue 363

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 and ELPAC website .

Register Now for the Fall Charter School In-Person Assessment Convenings

The California Department of Education (CDE) invites charter school assessment coordinators to attend the 2026 Fall Charter School In-Person Assessment Convenings. These events provide attendees with targeted learning, collaboration, and networking opportunities tailored to local contexts. Participants will connect with county office of education and regional representatives and learn from peers’ best practices.

Designed to complement the quarterly virtual meetings of the charter school assessment coordinator network, these convenings allow for deeper engagement and collaborative problem-solving.

Convening Dates and Locations:

• Sacramento: September 21, 2026 | 9 a.m.–3 p.m.
• Fresno: September 25, 2026 | 9 a.m.–3 p.m.
• Los Angeles: September 28, 2026 | 9 a.m.–3 p.m.

Each convening includes peer collaboration, hands-on skill-building activities, support from subject matter experts, and opportunities to ask questions, share experiences, and build a professional network. These events are designed to strengthen your understanding of your role and support a successful year.

Register now for the Charter School Assessment Convening to save your spot!

Charter School Assessment Coordinator Network Virtual Meeting

Join us on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, for the next quarterly meeting of the virtual Charter School Assessment Coordinator Network from 9:30 to 11 a.m. These quarterly meetings offer support to charter school coordinators and administrators by sharing assessment updates, best practices, and networking opportunities. Register now for the Charter School Coordinator Meeting to secure your spot as space is limited.

May’s Featured Tools for Teachers Resource

Looking for a quick way to help English learners strengthen their listening skills? This month’s featured Tools for Teachers resource, ELPAC Listening Domain—Listen to a Story (LST) Task Type (account required), is a professional learning resource that offers an engaging way for educators to explore how students approach listening tasks in kindergarten through grade five. In just 45 minutes, a facilitator can guide teachers through how the LST task works, the skills students need to succeed, and ways to connect the task to everyday classroom instruction. Because this task appears annually on the Summative ELPAC and can be explored through interim assessments, this resource helps teachers turn assessment insights into meaningful instruction.

What makes this resource particularly engaging is its use of collaborative, hands-on formative assessment strategies that mirror effective classroom practices such as Graffiti Boards , Gallery Walks , Quick Writes and Muddiest Points . These strategies are embedded in the professional development session to demonstrate and support the formative assessment process—clarifying learning goals, eliciting evidence of learning, interpreting that evidence, and acting on the evidence to support students. By experiencing these strategies firsthand, educators gain practical ideas they can immediately adapt for both integrated and designated English Language Development instruction.

For educators looking for a quick yet impactful professional learning experience, this lesson offers a powerful way to connect assessment literacy, formative assessment practices, and instructional strategies that support every English learner. To view this and other Tools for Teachers resources, local educational agency (LEA) staff need a Tools for Teachers account, which is free and can be obtained either through self-registration, described in the flyer How to Self-Register for Tools for Teacher (PDF) or by contacting their testing coordinator.

To receive future CAASPP and ELPAC updates and notifications, subscribe to the CAASPP mailing list by sending a blank email message to subscribe-caaspp@mlist.cde.ca.gov. Are you a new subscriber? For previous Assessment Spotlight issues, visit the California Department of Education Assessment Spotlight web page.