New CAASPP Coordinator Summer Training—Notetaking Guide



New CAASPP Coordinator Summer Training—Notetaking GuideCalifornia Department of Education | October 2020Icon KeyHandout from your binder/Google Drive folder Link ActivityHomeworkWelcomeAgendaToday we will review:Assessment 101 information to orient everyone to the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) SystemAvailable resources to support you, your site coordinators, and teachersYour role as the CAASPP coordinatorThe systems you will use to support testingHow to set up users in the systemsThe Smarter Balanced Interim Assessments and the new Tools for Teachers website that offers formative assessment instructional and professional learning resources for teachers.Learning GoalsWhat resources are available to support coordinators, site administrators, and teachersThe systems needed to administer the CAASPPThe coordinator’s role and next steps to start planning for a successful CAASPP administrationSuccess CriteriaFind available resources on the CAASPP website or the CDE websiteSpeak knowledgeably about the systems needed to support the CAASPP administrationPlan out next steps for the CAASPP administration Wonderings ActivityAssessment 101Levels of AssessmentA balanced assessment system includes multiple assessments used at different frequencies and for different purposes. Each of the three assessment types are represented—formative, interim, and summative.CAASPP SystemCAASPP: California Assessment of Student Performance and ProgressThere are general and alternate assessments for science, English-language arts, and mathematics. The alternate assessments are the California Alternate Assessments. They are represented by the acronym CAA which is pronounced Cal-Alt.The general assessments in English-language arts and mathematics are from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium—a multi-state initiative to develop computer-adaptive assessments. CAASPP Umbrella Graphic CAASPP PurposePer state law, the CAASPP System’s purpose is to promote high quality teaching and learning. All of the assessments in the CAASPP system are aligned to state adopted standards. This includes both the summative and interim assessments.Summative AssessmentsAll are administered via a computer.All are computer-based, and the Smarter Balanced tests are computer-adaptive. That means the computer adjusts the difficulty of the items based on student responses. For example, students who answer correctly receive increasingly difficult items. All CAASPP assessments include a wide variety of items. Some items are multiple choiceOthers require short answers. Some may have technology enhancements that require students to drag and drop or create a graph. There are also performance tasks included in the summative assessments. Performance tasks are often referred to as PTs.Who Takes Summative AssessmentsSmarter BalancedAll students in grades three through eight and grade eleven take the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments with two exceptions:A student’s active individualized education program (IEP) designates that they take the California Alternate AssessmentStudents designated to take the alternate assessments take them in the same grade levels as the Smarter Balanced assessments. Students who are English learners who have been enrolled in a US school less than 12 months. This is an optional exemption for the ELA portions of the test only.California Science Test (CAST)The CAST is taken by all students in grades five and eight. At high school, students should take the CAST as close as possible to the last science class that they complete. Students will only take the CAST one time in Grades 10, 11, or 12. When Do Students Take the CAST in High School Flyer When are Summative Assessments Administered Assessment Timeline This timeline shows the time of year for each assessment and also includes an indication if a test is in the pilot, field or operational phase of development, however, all current CAASPP assessments are operational this year.This is important because now that the Summative ELPAC is administered in the spring as opposed to the fall, we have to pay close attention to what other assessments are being given at that time. Homework: check in with your LEA leadership as well as the ELPAC Coordinator to coordinate testing at your LEA. Interim AssessmentsPurposeThe Smarter Balanced Interim Assessments are fixed-form assessments and are not computer-adaptive. This means that item difficulty presented to a student who is taking the assessment will not be adjusted based on the student’s answers like the Summative assessments. Instead, all students will be asked to answer the same set of test questions. This allows teachers to see item specific results for planning next steps for instruction.There is one version of each assessment, however there are over 160 interim assessments available—approximately 20 per grade level.Use of the interim assessments can improve student familiarity with the testing interface and allow them to practice with different accessibility resources prior to using them on the summative assessment.The resources available to support the interim assessments allow teachers to become more familiar with the content being assessed, the item types that students will encounter, and the rubrics or scoring criteria that will be used to evaluate their progress. The interim assessments may be administered at any grade level to any student, so teachers can give these assessments to students outside of their own grade level. The Interims may be administered in either a standardized or non-standardized way.Formative Assessment and Tools for TeachersFormative assessment is not a one-time assessment. Instead it is a process we use to gather information.“A deliberate process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides actionable feedback that is used to adjust ongoing teaching and learning strategies to improve students’ attainment of curricular learning targets/goals.” This process has four components:Clarify Intended LearningElicit EvidenceInterpret Evidence, andAct on EvidenceThis process is not always sequential.Tools for TeachersThe Digital Library was launched in 2014 and housed resources online to support teachers using the formative assessment process. In response to educator needs and LEA feedback, the Smarter Balanced Consortium will decommission the Digital Library on May 28, 2020 to make way for its new formative assessment component to the Smarter Balanced assessment system.On June 16, 2020 a preview of Tools for Teachers will be available for all LEAs followed by a grand opening of the website September 30, 2020. Each resource in Tools for Teachers:includes recommendations for instructional differentiation, embedded formative assessment strategies, and embedded accessibility strategiesaligns with the Common Core State Standards, and is authored with a focus on implementing the formative assessment process in the classroomThe resources are vetted by multiple trained members of the Smarter Balanced State Network of Educators (SNE), and follow a rigorous set of quality criteria, before they are posted on the Tools for Teachers website. SNE Flyer Connections PlaylistFor each Interim Assessment Block there is a Connections Playlist that includes multiple instructional resources designed specifically for the skills students need in order to meet the grade level standards assessed by that block.Each Connections Playlist is organized by student skill progressions needed to successfully meet the targets and standards assessed by the Interim Assessment Blocks using the formative assessment process. Exploration ActivitySteps:Navigate to the Tools for Teachers siteBrowse and search for resources without having to log inFind a resource or Connections Playlist that you likeThe website will prompt you to log in to see the full contentLog in to T4T with your TOMS log inReview the full resourceReflectionWhat sits square What’s still rolling around ResourcesWho’s WhoCDE, or the California Department of Education, is our state education agency.ETS, or Education Testing Service, is the testing vendor for all CAASPP and ELPAC assessments.The Sacramento County Office of Education, or SCOE, holds the contract for Assessment Outreach, and produces trainings like these and the annual Assessment Information Meeting on behalf of the CDE.New Coordinator TrainingsNew Coordinator Training FlyerThis training is part of a specific training series designed for coordinators who are new to their role this year. Materials as well as registration links to these trainings are available here: HYPERLINK "" \o "CAASPP Training Opportunities web page" Assessment Network (RAN)RAN FlyerThe Regional Assessment Network, or RAN, is one of the best resources for all LEA Coordinators.Run by the County Superintendents Association, staff from one or two counties in your region participate in every other month statewide RAN meetings. Homework: reach out to your local COE to see if there is an active Assessment Network in your region or surrounding county, as this is a great opportunity to find and network with colleagues in similar roles. CAASPP WebsiteThe CAASPP website is the place to go for any and all information about the CAASPP system. You Gonna Call?The California Technical Assistance Center (CalTAC) is a valuable resource that is only available to LEA CAASPP Coordinators. CALTAC’s primary role is to answer your questions about all things ELPAC or CAASPP.Only LEA Coordinators may contact CalTAC.Monday–Friday | 7:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. PST800-955-2954 | caltac@ LEA Coordinators field questions from the school sites, and then call CALTAC as needed.CALTAC can be reached by email at caltac@, by phone, and even through the online chat feature.When using the online chat feature, you can save the transcript as a pdf once the chat has ended.CDE WebsiteIn addition to the CAASPP website, you will also want to bookmark the CDE testing page.HYPERLINK "" \o "CDE Testing web page" page has links to pages that hold all of the Quick Reference Guides, Fact Sheets, and Parent Guides to Understanding. Using the Search box in the upper right-hand side of the screen is also very helpful to find what you are looking for quickly.Some resources are housed on the CDE web page and others on the CAASPP website, so if you can’t find what you’re looking for on one site, be sure to also check out the other site. Explore the CDE website and CAASPP websiteThe goal is to find:the system downtimes calendar on the CAASPP websitea CAASPP letter template—either notice of test administration template or a SSR template—on the CDE website.Written ResourcesAssessment Fact SheetsAssessment Fact Sheet Reference GuidesQuick Reference Guide Guides to Understanding Parent Guide to Understanding Some More Explore the ResourcesPull up one of the resources we mentioned:Fact SheetsParent Guides to UnderstandingAvailable Resource FlyersComplete the 3-2-1 prompts:3 key takeaways2 ways you can use 1 way to share these resources widely in your LEAAcronymsAcronyms HandoutAssessment Spotlight to subscribe, send a blank email to subscribe-caaspp@mlist.cde. TestsThe goal of the practice tests is to expose students, parents, teachers and test administrators to the tests so they may become familiar with them. Smarter Balanced Training Tests, Practice Tests, and Interim AssessmentsPractice tests provide students with a grade-level specific experience. Practice Tests are available for each grade level that is tested.Students can also practice with accessibility resources.Practice Tests are available for:Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for ELA and mathCAA in ELA, mathematics, and ScienceCASTCSA QRG: How to Start a Practice TestQuestion and Answer SegmentRoles and Responsibilities CAASPP User Roles FlyerCoordinator RoleAs an LEA CAASPP Coordinator you have many roles and responsibilities related to planning, preparing, and supporting CAASPP testing in your LEA.The major responsibilities are: Knowing and following state law and regulations. This means being aware about changes in regulations related to assessment. These are found in the Title 5 regulations. Maintaining security of materials while in your possession and informing your site coordinators of their responsibility pertaining to secure materials. Training and supporting Site Coordinators from the planning and preparing stages of testing all the way through to reporting of results. Communicating with key stakeholders, including letting them know initial information as well as updating them throughout the testing administration.Reporting results and understanding the use of results accurately.Coordinator ChecklistCAASPP Coordinator ChecklistA CAASPP Coordinator checklist is posted on the CAASPP website for your reference and use. It includes a very comprehensive list of the tasks and activities that are part of your new role.The CAASPP Coordinator Checklist is organized by month.The CAASPP Coordinator Checklist is online. We highly recommend that you download it into MS Word where you can customize it to better meet your needs at your LEA. For example, there might be activities listed on the checklist that you aren’t responsible for in your LEA so you could delete or hide those. In other cases, you might have additional responsibilities and you could add those to the checklist. Activity Coordinator Checklist ReviewHighlight one task you have already accomplished. Underline two activities that are on your radar. Circle three items which are new/unfamiliar to you at this time.Site Level CoordinatorsAs LEA coordinator you will need to identify the site CAASPP coordinator for each school.We don’t mean that you pick a person at each site to fill this role, but you do want to know who this person is at each one of your sites. Each school or site will have at least one CAASPP site coordinator. Site CAASPP coordinator responsibilities can be defined as: At the school level, works with LEA CAASPP coordinators on procedures for CAASPP testing administration Additional information on the responsibilities of the site CAASPP coordinator can be found on the CAASPP website coordinators have the highest permission level at a site and will automatically have access to the reporting system where all results are kept. Homework: learn whether your district has a policy or guideline that they follow when identifying site coordinators. Some questions to consider include:If the site coordinator is not the principal, will the principal also be set up as a site coordinator? Should all vice principals also be identified as site coordinators?TOMS Access for Site CoordinatorsSetting all of your site coordinators up with access to TOMS is the last step in the user registration process. Be sure you communicate with the site coordinators when you have set them up so they know to look for an email from TOMS with their logon information. Please Note: The password link sent to user in the email expires in 30 minutes. Once they are set up in TOMS, their actual password expires in 90 daysOther RolesTest Administrators and Test Examiners, what is the difference?According to the regs, a test administrator is an employee or contractor of an LEA or a nonpublic, nonsectarian school (NPS) who has received training to administer the CAASPP achievement tests.Test administrators administer the Smarter Balanced assessments and the CAST. The CAAs must be administered by certificated or licensed LEA staff member. Pursuant to regs, “Test examiner” is an employee or contractor of an LEA or an NPS who has received training to administer the CAAs, and is certificated or licensedTest Administrators administer the Smarter Summatives, CSA, or CAST. Test Examiners administer the alternate assessments and must be certified or licensed.If you have staff that needs both roles, you will want to set them up as a Test Examiner. This will allow them to administer the CAAs as well as the other summative assessments.Setting up users in TOMSThis can be done by the site coordinator or the LEA coordinator, depending on how things are set up in your LEA.Users with this role must be tied to a specific school. Examiners who will be testing at multiple sites will need to be given access to multiple sites. Interim Only RoleThis is exactly what it sounds like, a user who can only administer Interim Assessments. When a user with IA Only access logs in to TOMS to administer the interim assessments, they will only see the interims.SecuritySecurity is important to the integrity of the CAASPP system. There are two different types of security forms related to CAASPP testing. Security AgreementThe security agreement is what you, as the LEA ELPAC Coordinator, must complete. This is also required for all your site coordinators and Test Administrators/Test Examiners.This security agreement is embedded in the TOMS logon process. When user accounts are set up for the first time they will have to agree to the security section of the terms of use, and that will be their security agreement.Security AffidavitSecurity affidavits are for staff that don’t have a TOMS account, but will have access to test materials or secure information.These affidavits can be found on the CAASPP website. and Answer SegmentSystemsSystems OverviewSystems GraphicThe descriptions of each system on this handout are not comprehensive lists and do not list every possible data item in each system. It focuses on those that are most relevant to test administration.The graphic is organized into three main components.The systems shown by a circle contain student enrollment information and demographics. The system shown by a square sends special education information to the other systems.The systems shown by rounded circles are maintained by ETS, the current testing contractors, and contains the assessment administration systems.Local Student DataYour local student information system, or SIS, stores and tracks student information for all students enrolled in your district. This system contains information about student demographics, parent contact information, emergency information, grades, courses, discipline information, attendance, etc. Each LEA designates specific staff members to make changes or manipulate data in your local SIS system. Most LEAs have CALPADS administrators who pull specific files from their SIS to load the data into CALPADS. CALPADSCALPADS (California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System) is a statewide system that collects information about students including:demographic informationprogram participationsuspensions expulsionsenrollment status course enrollmentCALPADS is the official source of information for students and staff attending or working in California public schools. It also serves as the official data source for funding and other important data releases.LEAs submit data several times per year based on established deadlines. Homework: meet your LEAs CALPADS CoordinatorCALPADS is where the English Language Acquisition Status field lives. This is the field that is set as TBD for students who have identified a language other than English on their Home Language Survey. LEAs must administer the Initial ELPAC to them to determine if they are English learners or not. For students classified as English learners in CALPADS, they will be eligible to take the Summative ELPAC.Special Education DataThese data systems store information about students who have IEPS, as well as the types of supports or accommodations for students, including in which assessments students should participate.How SpEd data gets into your SIS, and therefore into CALPADS, can vary from LEA to LEA. Homework: learn how your Special Education Data gets into your SIS/CALPADSYou will see on the graphic that the Special Education Data System points to both the SIS and to TOMS. Part of that is because your Special Ed system might talk to your SIS. The other part is that certain information should go through CALPADS, and other information just goes straight to TOMS.Student test settings, both designated supports and accommodations are loaded directly into TOMS by selecting individual test settings for a student or uploading test settings for a group of students.Garbage In, Garbage OutIf you aren’t keeping your local data clean and accurate, the data you submit to CALPADS isn’t accurate and programmatic. Funding decisions can be at risk when the data don’t reflect the true situation at your LEA. Inaccurate data in your SIS can also lead to inaccurate data being reported on the California Schools Dashboard, California’s accountability system.Dashboard data is available publicly and errors are very serious. Every LEA has their own way of ensuring accurate data. Homework: learn the processes at your LEA and what procedures are in place for periodic data audits, etc. If a problem is found with the local student data, know who to contact at your LEA.TOMSTOMS is the Test Operations Management System that receives student data from CALPADS automatically.TOMS is run by ETS and is the system that opens the door to many other systems and supports CAASPP, as well as ELPAC testing.Within TOMS you can manage the test window for your LEA, check demographic characteristics for students, check test assignments, parent exemptions, and more.TOMS provides information to three other systems.Test Delivery System (TDS)Based on the information entered into TOMS, the Test Delivery System delivers the test to the student. When a student logs in to the system, the TDS knows which test the student should receive based on information that you previously entered or uploaded into TOMS.Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)You will access TIDE through TOMS, and ETS has made this seamless. Clicking certain links within TOMS takes you to reports etc., so you might not know you’re using TIDE, you might think you are still in TOMS, and that was the goal. The main purpose of TIDE is to help you monitor completion status of testing at multiple levels. TIDE is also the system where you need to go if you want to process an appeal for a testing situation.In TIDE you can:Create completion reportsMonitor test administration progress andCalifornia Educator Reporting SystemThe third system available in TOMS is the reporting system. The CDE is phasing out the reporting system for summative assessments called ORS (online reporting system).Last school year summative assessment results was introduced into the California Education Reporting System or CERS.CERS was previously used only to access scores from all of the interim assessments. CERS will become the “one stop shop” for all Smarter Balanced and CAASPP interim and summative assessment results with the exception of the Initial ELPAC. In spring 2021, results from the summative assessments will be accessed through CERS and ORS will sunset.Assessment NameHistorical Data AvailableDaily Feed AvailableELPACAvailable NowMay 2020Summative ELA and MathematicsAvailable NowSpring 2021CAA Summative ELA and MathematicsAvailable NowSpring 2021CSASummer 2020Spring 2021CASTSummer 2020Spring 2021CAA for ScienceN/ASpring 2021Alternate ELPACN/A2022What’s To ComeFor the 2020–21 SY, LEAs will still load test settings into TOMS.CDE and ETS will conduct integration testing of the CALPADS to TOMS link for test settings in Spring 2021. The CDE Is asking you to make sure all student test settings are entered into you Special Education Data System—regardless of what system you use—for kids with IEPs.They also need that information entered into your SIS for kids without IEPs. LEAs that have this data loaded in those 2 places by the end of 2020–21 will be ready for the transition.ReflectionWhat sits square?What’s still rolling around?Setting Up Users, Windows, and TrainingsSetting up Users in TOMSAs the LEA coordinator you will need to set your site coordinators up as users in the TOMS system.During the TOMS registration process users will be required to electronically sign the required security forms. As for who will set up test administrators, test examiners, and other roles in TOMS is a local decision. You can have sites submit their user lists to you and you can load themYou can have site admins or Test Site Coordinators load all of their site staff into TOMSThis will be dependent on a few factors, such as the setup of your LEA, the size of your LEA, etc.Access ConsiderationsConsider the TOMS roles that will be needed during the year when assigning staff in the system.If your LEA is administering interim tests in the system, such as IABs or ICAs, then you might consider assigning the “CAASPP IA Administrator Only” role to start the year. This role allows users to administer interim assessments but not summative assessments. The “Test Administrator” or “Test Examiner” roles could be added later in the year once training for the summative test is complete and the test window is approaching. Other considerations include identifying the teachers that will need the “Test Examiner” role early in the year for administering the CAA Science tests, and local processes for removing active users when they leave the LEA or change school sites. Setting up WindowsThere are three key terms that you need to remember when it comes to scheduling CAASPP testing—available testing windows, test administration windows, and testing schedules. The available testing window is the longest period of time of the three. The available testing window is set through the CAASPP regulations and it’s based on the percentage of completed instructional days. Per the regulations, the available testing window shall begin on the day on which 66 percent of the school’s annual instructional days have been completed and may continue up to and including the last day of instruction for the year for most CAASPP tests. Some tests, such as CAA Science, have a preset testing window that cannot be changed.Within the available testing window, LEAs establish test administration windows, which are sometimes referred to as testing periods. Depending on school calendars and other circumstances within the LEA, LEAs may select up to six test administration windows within the available testing window. Coordinators will enter these windows into TOMS, identifying the dates the summative tests will be available to schools within the LEA. Within the LEAs test administration window come the school site test schedules. Unlike the test administration windows these are NOT loaded into the TOMS system. These are just kept locally.What to do now:Test administration windows must be at least 25 consecutive instructional days, although an LEA can extend a selected test administration window by up to 10 additional days.Once identified, the Test Administration Window must be entered into TOMS.The deadline for this is December!!! When selecting dates for the LEA testing window, consider non-student dates, school holidays, instructional calendars, and end-of-year events that may interfere with testing. Gathering input from school staff is also helpful in determining the available window for testing.It is important to adhere to your selected test administrations windows to prevent complications and issues.Local Training SchedulesAs the LEA coordinator, part of your role is to provide local trainings to your site coordinators.Some LEAs then have site coordinators train their local staff, while others have the LEA coordinator do all of the training. Homework: figure out how training works at your LEA.Regardless of who you will be training, during the fall you will want to identify dates and locations for training and notify Site Coordinators and others as early as possible.Developing TrainingIdentify the topics of the training and the audience for those topics.Q: What topics do you need to cover?Q: Who is your audience for each topic?Try not to assume that all your stakeholders are equal in their information needs. Experienced Site Coordinators will need much less information than new Site Coordinators. Q: Do you need to offer a beginner session and an advanced session?Also, consider school type in developing your training. Staff at high schools may need a slightly different training than elementary or middle school staff. Q: Do you need to hold separate trainings for charter/non-charter or based on school size?The take home message here is for you to think about ways to tailor the training so that your stakeholders get what they need and that the group isn’t too large where it’s overwhelming for you or for the stakeholders.Training ModeConsider the mode of delivery for the training material. Are there instances where putting together a YouTube video or putting on a WebEx might be useful versus an in-person training?Can you use existing opportunities where your stakeholder groups are already engaged and see if you can piggyback on those existing opportunities? Should you have different trainings for new and experience coordinators as well as drop in sessions for coordinators who might need some hands on support with things like test schedule, TOMS or CERS.Training GuidanceConsider the following questions:What information needs to be covered in the training?Who needs to be trained?Does everyone need the same information?Will there be a separate training for the CAAs?Who, from your district, will you work with on the Spec Ed side to assist with training on the CAAs?What is the best method for sharing the information?What existing training opportunities exist where you can “piggyback” and add information about CAASPP?Interim AssessmentsThere are two different fundamental purposes for interim assessments. To provide information on students’ current levels of achievement after a period of learning has occurred—also referred to as assessment OF learning.To use evidence of student learning to continuously inform and adapt instruction. This is also referred to as assessment FOR learning.Of LearningThe most commonly thought about purpose of interim assessments is “of learning”. That is the assessment provides information on students’ current levels of achievement after a period of learning has occurred. Such assessments—which may be classroom-based, districtwide, or statewide—serve a summative purpose and are sometimes referred to as assessments of learning.For Learning“One purpose is to provide information about student learning minute-by-minute, day-to-day, and week-to-week so teachers can continuously adapt instruction to meet students’ specific needs and secure progress. This type of assessment is intended to assist learning and is often referred to as formative assessment or assessment for learning.”The interim assessments are flexible tools and can be used for both purposes—of learning or for learning.If using them of learning you’ll likely see students taking the assessments individually so that can express what they have learned. This is referred to as a “Standardized” administration.If using them for learning, you may see students working on items in pairs or small groups or you may see teachers presenting items to students are part of morning warm up activities. This is referred to as a “Non-standardized” administration. Types of InterimsInterim Assessments At-a-GlanceInterim Assessments by GradeThere are three different types of Smarter Balanced Interim Assessments. The three types of Interims are:Interim Comprehensive Assessments, or ICAsInterim Assessment blocks (IABs)Focused Interim Assessment blocks (F-IABs)Interim Comprehensive Assessments (ICAs)The ICAs mimic the full summative assessment, including the amount of time for administration. They assess the same range of standards as the summative and provide data on student achievement of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) on the same scale as the summative assessments as well as provide an achievement level and claim scores. They may be administered up to three times each year per student, although administering ICAs too frequently is not recommended.Because of the total testing time required, LEAs should carefully consider how the ICAs might fit into their comprehensive assessment system.Interim Assessment Block (IABs)The IABs are shorter assessments focused on specific assessment targets, which are groups of standards. You can see those targets called out on the Smarter Balanced Interim Assessments by Grade level flyersStudent reports identify if a student is “Above Standard,” “Near Standard,” or “Below Standard” for the particular assessment block.There are approximately 5 to 18 items on each IAB. Because the IABs are shorter, most can be administered within a single class period.The IABs may be administered an unlimited number of times.All of the interims have detailed blueprints that are available to help educators understand the design of the assessments.An Interim Assessment Viewing System is available for educators so that they can experience the assessment prior to using it with students, or for display assessment items for class discussion. Focused Interim Assessment BlocksFocused IABs were rolled out in response to educator feedback on needing assessments that focused on smaller chunks of information.They function much like the regular IABs in terms of the number of items, and can be given an unlimited number of times throughout the year.The key difference is that they focus on a smaller number of assessment targets—between 1 and 2.Focused IABs can be used in both standardized and non-standardized formats. The narrow focus of these tests allows for additional item interactions within a target, adding to the power of collaborative item analysis and planning within teams. One use of Focused IABs is to use two or three as an interim test set, assessing the group of targets covered in instruction during the term in more depth than what would be available through a standard IAB.IAB ResultsInterim Assessment Results can be found in CERS. In CERS, for interim assessments, teachers are able to see how students responded to each individual item. This is important to know because in the early years of the system many teachers expressed frustration that the system didn’t provide enough information about student performance. The team at Smarter Balanced and the CDE listened carefully to that feedback and updated the system in several important ways based on teacher feedback. So if teachers at your school or district tell you they don’t use the system because it doesn’t provide useful information, you are now prepared to address their concerns by highlighting some of the newer features of the system.Hand ScoringHand scoring takes place at your local LEA by teachers Hand scores are entered into the hand scoring system, which can be accessed through the CAASPP website. The hand scoring process is much more than just entering scores in the system. Hand scoring is a great way for teachers to become familiar with constructed response rubrics. Conducting hand scoring in a PLC session can help teachers identify common response patterns and errors to help drive instructional decisions. Connections PlaylistGoing back to the Tools for Teachers formative assessment resources, we want to highlight a connection with interim assessments. For each interim assessment listed on the flyer we looked at a few minutes ago, there is a Connections Playlist. Each playlist includes resources that teachers can find in the Tools for Teachers system.Each Connections Playlist is organized by student skills or topics assessed by the interim assessment.RosteringRostering students for reports happens in CERS. Users must have an active TOMS account and will see student data based on their role in TOMS and the rosters assigned to them in CERS.TOMS users with a Coordinator role will see all students available in their corresponding access level, either at the LEA or school level. They will not see student results grouped by teacher or class unless groups have been assigned to them.TOMS users with the Test Administrator or IA Administrator Only roles will only see students who are assigned to them. They will not see entire grade level or school level results unless a roster group is assigned to them for that purpose.CERS roster groups must be uniquely named and have size limits (200 students per group). This may limit your ability to create a grade level or course level group for teachers due to the group cap size. Please consider the security of personally identifiable information when assigning groups.To create student groups in CERS, the LEA Coordinator logs into CERS and selects the “Student Groups” button in the Administrator Tools section. Then the LEA Coordinator would select the “Upload Groups” button to access the upload screen. A CSV File Format button is available on this page, linking to the information page regarding file setup, the user guide, and a template. Follow these directions precisely, as the file will be rejected if the format is askew.We have found that medium to large districts often have to create multiple files to upload all classroom level groups into the system. Depending on the size of your LEA and schools, it may be best to create a separate file for each school site or group schools together for uploading. Question and AnswerThank you! ................
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