Assessment Spotlight, Issue 328

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 .

Assessment and Accountability Information Meeting

Registration is now open to all for the 2025 Assessment and Accountability Information Meeting (AAIM) , hosted by the California Department of Education (CDE). These virtual meetings will provide coordinators with the latest information and updates on California's assessment and accountability systems.

The sessions, designed for assessment and accountability coordinators, will be presented virtually on two consecutive Thursday afternoons in August. The dates and topics are as follows:

• August 7, 2025, 2−4:30 p.m.—Accessibility, Test Delivery System Enhancements, Initial ELPAC, ELPAC Information Guide, Teacher Hand Scoring System, Interim and Formative Assessments, California Alternate Assessment for Science, California Spanish Assessment, Starting Smarter Resources for Parents/Guardians, Achievement Level Descriptors, California Educator Reporting System, and National and International Tests
  
• August 14, 2025, 2−4 p.m.—California School Dashboard and Accountability Updates

If you are unable to attend but would like to receive materials or a notice when the recording is posted, complete the 2025 AAIM Materials and Recordings form .

Do you have questions for the CDE assessment or accountability teams? You can send us questions in advance by submitting them to the 2025 AAIM Q&A form . We will answer these questions live during the sessions.

July’s Featured Resource in Tools for Teachers—Listen Up About Habitats: Identify Key Details

This month’s featured Tools for Teachers resource, Listen Up About Habitats: Identify Key Details (account required), is a Grade 3 English language arts lesson that helps students build listening comprehension by identifying supporting details from texts read aloud. This 30-minute lesson uses engaging content and structured discussion to strengthen students’ abilities to extract key information.

The teacher begins by showing pictures of swamp habitats, then uses Read Aloud and Sentence Frames accessibility strategies along with Anchor Chart and Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down formative assessment strategies to support student understanding of the lesson objectives and language goals. Next, the teacher models listening to a text and using words from a chart to help identify key details. To conclude, as students practice listening for key details in a text, the Peer-to-Peer Feedback formative assessment strategy is used to encourage collaboration and deeper thinking as students work together to reach a consensus on key ideas. This lesson plan provides several recommendations for formative assessment and accessibility strategies to use during instruction. It also includes recommendations for students who may need more support and for those who are ready for an extra challenge.

To view this and other instructional resources, local educational agency (LEA) staff need a Tools for Teachers account which can be obtained either through self-registration, described in the flyer How to Self-Register for Tools for Teachers (PDF), or through their LEA CAASPP or ELPAC 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 CDE Assessment Spotlight web page.