CA Alternate Assessment - CAA- Science

New Year - New Test - the 2018-19 administration of the CAA Science will be a computer-based assessment. The assessment will make use of videos

Who Will Participate: The CAA Science is administered to eligible students in grades five and eight and once in high school. For the field test, all eligible grade 12 students will take the CAA Science. 12th grade students who participated in the CAA Science year 2 pilot in 2017/18 have fulfilled their high school science testing requirement. LEAs also have the option to test any or all grade 10 or 11 students; however, it is recommended that LEAs select students in grades ten or eleven who are enrolled in their last science course. For additional guidance, please refer to guidance for IEP teams.

Testing Window: The CAA for Science does NOT have a testing window and can be administered anytime from January 8 through the last day of instruction or July 15 whichever come first.

Test Examiner Tutorial Now Available for CAA for Science

The California Alternate Assessment (CAA) for Science Test Examiner Tutorial (video) is now available. Please note that, after opening this link, viewers can choose science as the content area or a combination of content areas:

• Science only
• Science, ELA, and mathematics
• ELA and mathematics only

The CAA for Science Test Examiner Tutorial includes important information that test examiners need for administering the CAA for Science field test. The tutorial provides an introduction to the test, the purpose of the orienting activities, and how and when to individualize activities and items. Additional resources for test examiners are introduced, such as Administration Planning Guides and the Directions for Administration.

Throughout the tutorial, participants must answer key questions in order to proceed. After completing the tutorial, they will receive a certificate of completion by email; they also have the option to download a certificate upon completion. Audio captioning is available.

Use the CAA for Science Administration Planning Guides to schedule administration of each embedded PT within the instructional calendar:

• 2018–19 CAA for Science Administration Planning Guide—Grade Five (PDF)
• 2018–19 CAA for Science Administration Planning Guide—Grade Eight (PDF)
• 2018–19 CAA for Science Administration Planning Guide—High School (PDF)

California Alternate Assessment for Science Webcast (December 2018)

• California Alternate Assessment for Science Webcast (59:32) (Video)
• Archived Webcast California Alternate Assessment for Science Webcast (PPT)

High School Administration Guidance: All eligible grade twelve students are to take the field test; if the student is in grades ten or eleven has finished their last science class, and the LEA elects to administer the assessment at those grade levels, those students may also be assessed. Regardless of the grade level in which the test is taken, students will only take the test once in high school.

More information on the field test will be posted when available. Please also visit CDE's Alternate Assessments site for more information.

CDE Preliminary Indicator Communication Toolkit

On December 10, 2018, CDE released the results from the 2017/18 administration of the CAA-Science Year 2 Pilot. Aggregate results are now available on the CAASPP Results Web site at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/ca/caaresearchfiles.aspat the state, county, LEA, and school levels for all students and by student groups.The results include a "preliminary indicator." Preliminary indicators offer a general indication of student content knowledge. Preliminary indicators include a percent of items answered correctly and an indicator category. They are not scale scores and are not achievement levels.

It is important to remember that 2017/18 was a pilot test year.This means that the test was still in development when it was administered it to your students. This is normal. What is not normal is reporting these results to families because they are not precise enough to gauge performance at the student level. CDE is fulfilling a requirement by the federal government to provide results to families

Preliminary Indicator Levels

• 3: Student performance suggests a considerable understanding of the California NGSS
• 2: Student performance suggests a moderate understanding of the California NGSS
• 1: Student performance suggests a limited understanding of the California NGSS

A complete timeline of the release of the preliminary indicators, including the audience and agency responsible for distributing the information is available from CDE. LEAs are responsible for providing assessment preliminary indicators to parents/guardians.

To facilitate this communication, CDE has developed a suite of communications tools, information, and FAQs.

Access Toolkit

LEAs will have access to student scores and provisional information for each student.

The preliminary indicators may be used to inform LEAs about the progress of local implementation of CA NGSS. Results should be leveraged where possible to advocate for additional investment in the implementation of the standards, including professional development.

CDE has developed and made available numerous resources to support the administration of the CAA for Science:

• CAA Web Page
• CAA-Science Blueprint
• CAA-Science Preliminary Science Core Content Connectors and Essential Understandings: For the CA NGSS alternate summative assessments, Educational Testing Service, in collaboration with its subcontractor edCount (the developers of the National Center and State Collaborative Connectors for ELA and mathematics), developed the preliminary CA NGSS alternate summative assessment Connectors. As with those developed for the ELA and mathematics, the Connectors developed for science provide learning goals aligned appropriately with the needs of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. They serve as a basis for the state's CA NGSS alternate summative assessments for eligible students.
• Assessment Fact Sheet: Provides answers to the who, what, where, when, why, and how questions about the CAA for Science.
• Use the CAA for Science Administration Planning Guides to schedule administration of each embedded PT within the instructional calendar:
  • 2018–19 CAA for Science Administration Planning Guide—Grade Five (PDF)
  • 2018–19 CAA for Science Administration Planning Guide—Grade Eight (PDF)
  • 2018–19 CAA for Science Administration Planning Guide—High School (PDF)
• California Alternate Assessment for Science Webcast (December 2018)
  • California Alternate Assessment for Science Webcast (59:32) (Video)
  • Archived Webcast California Alternate Assessment for Science Webcast (PPT)
• Parent Guide to Understanding the California Alternate Assessment: Provides answers to key questions, such as who takes the assessments and why, when, and how they are administered, and other questions parents and guardians might have. Also available in other languages.