Overview
At the end of each school year, all students in California public schools are required to take California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) assessments in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Students in grades 5, 8, 11 and 12 also take the CAST (California Science Test). Families receive score reports at the beginning of the following school year. State assessments provide many benefits for SFUSD students and teachers. Both teachers and students use information from end-of-year state assessments to help identify strengths and areas for improvement for the new incoming school year.
Smarter Balanced for ELA and Math
Smarter Balanced assessments are administered in grades 3-8 and 11. The assessments are administered over a multiple-day period towards the end of the school year, and consist of computer adaptive sections and performance tasks for both ELA and math. The computer adaptive technology adjusts the difficulty of questions throughout the assessment based on the student’s response. If a student answers a question correctly, the next question will be more challenging; if a student answers incorrectly, the next question will be less challenging.
Smarter Balanced performance tasks present students with a scenario and various item types, designed to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to apply their knowledge and higher-order thinking skills to explore and analyze a complex, real-world scenario.
Smarter Balanced assessments are administered over multiple days, with untimed test sessions lasting about an hour. The assessments will be administered in SFUSD during these testing windows.
California Science Test
The purposes of the CAST are to assess student knowledge and skills in science and to foster science education at every grade level. In addition, the CAST encourages students to build the knowledge and skills needed for college and careers. All students in grades 5 and 8 and one time in high school.
CAST measures what students know and can do using the California Next Generation Science Standards, which focus on understanding the scientific concepts found in the Life Sciences, Earth and Space Sciences, and Physical Sciences
Resources
CAASPP Resources for parents and guardians to support their child with online California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) testing.
The Parent Guides to Understanding are two-page flyers written in easy-to-understand language that answer key questions (what, why, who, how, and when) about California's assessment programs. Information is also included about how parents can support their student's success.
This page was last updated on September 11, 2024