Assessment Spotlight, Issue 231

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 .

2023 California Assessment Conference Call for Proposals

We are excited to announce that the registration and proposal submission window for the 2023 California Assessment Conference (CAC) is open now. Join us in person on October 9–10, 2023, in Sacramento, California.

This year’s conference will focus on Charting the Course Between Instruction and Assessment. This is a unique opportunity for educators to connect with peers to discover assessment tools and strategies for supporting learning and teaching.

Please share this announcement with your colleagues and encourage all who are interested to attend and apply to present! The proposal submission window closes on June 23, 2023, at 5 p.m. For more information about the conference, to register, and to submit a session proposal visit the CAC website .

Focus on Test Security—What Happens After I Submit My Appeal?

When you submit an Appeal as part of reporting an incident in the Security and Test Administration Incident Reporting System (STAIRS), the following actions will take place for each type of appeal that is approved:

• Reopen Appeal—The student(s) may resume testing. Expired tests will resume at the last unanswered item on the test. This could, in some cases, be different than where the student left off; for example, if the student went back to review prior items and erased an answer. This appeal extends the test availability by ten calendar days.
• Reset Appeal—The test has been removed from the system and the student(s) will start a new test from the beginning. Please ensure that the test assignment and test settings are accurate before allowing the student(s) to start a new test.
• Grace Period Extension Appeal—The student(s) may return to prior pages (i.e., screens) within the existing segment. A student may not return to a previous segment once it has been completed and submitted.
• Invalidate Appeal—The score(s) will be invalidated and will be reported with a text notation on the Student Score Report. The student(s) will be counted as having participated in the calculation of the school’s participation rate. The student(s) will not be able to continue with the invalidated test but may still take other CAASPP and ELPAC tests. For example, if a student’s ELA Computer Adaptive Test is invalidated, they can still take the ELA Performance Task. Invalidation is only applicable to the CAASPP and is not an option for the ELPAC.

Communicating with the California Department of Education (CDE) or the California Technical Assistance Center about a pending STAIRS case can be accomplished by using the Notes feature in STAIRS. To submit or to read the notes and responses associated with a case, take the following steps:

• Search and open the STAIRS case.
• Select the Notes tab.

You will be notified by email when there is a reply to your comment. Find more information about STAIRS and Appeals in the CAASPP and ELPAC Security Incidents and Appeals Procedure Guide .

May’s Featured Resource in Tools for Teachers—Qrazy Quadratic Quations

This month’s featured Tools for Teachers resource, Qrazy Quadratic Quations (Account Required) , is a lesson for high school math teachers that can be used to help students learn to solve quadratic equations by using factoring. This engaging lesson provides step-by-step directions for pairing students, monitoring student small group discussions, and leading full-class discussions about zero product property and solving quadratic equations.

This lesson sparks students' interest with a full-class discussion about the Zero Product Property and makes a connection to how this property can be used to solve quadratic equations. An interactive quadratic equation card sort activity provides students with tasks to complete in small groups to demonstrate understanding of the solution process. An extension activity can be used for teachers to provide support for students who are ready to expand their learning of quadratic equations while others continue to solidify their skill levels. Embedded throughout the lesson are opportunities for the teacher to model how to solve quadratic equations, identify students’ level of understanding, and provide immediate feedback.

This lesson is included in two high school mathematics Interim Assessment Connections Playlists, 1) Algebra and Functions II–Quadratic Functions, Equations, and Inequalities, and 2) Solve Equations and Inequalities: Quadratic. Each playlist consists of instructional resources that can be used to teach the content assessed on the corresponding Interim Assessment Block. 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 coordinator.

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 CDE Assessment Spotlight web page to find previous issues.