CAASPP

Before the pandemic, Upland Unified School District gave annual state assessments to students in grades 3-8 and 11th grades. These included new tests known as California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP)/Smarter Balanced Assessments. These computer-adaptive tests replace the former paper-based Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) tests. The CAASPP/Smarter Balanced Assessments measure our students’ knowledge of Common Core State Standards, which are California’s new learning standards in English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics.

In UUSD, one of our core beliefs is to focus on the whole child. State tests are only one measure of a student’s success in school. Smarter Balanced Assessments provide one measure of our student knowledge and skills along with classroom tests, assignments, and grades. We encourage you to keep these tests in perspective of our overall goals for our students’ development.

With the adoption of Common Core State Standards, California has adopted more rigorous academic standards that emphasize critical thinking, analytic and problem-solving skills, as well as subject knowledge. Because what students need to know and be able to do has changed, our tests have changed as well.

• The computer-adaptive format adjusts the level of difficulty based on a student’s responses.
• There is a wider variety of question types rather than traditional multiple-choice tests.
• Students are tasked with demonstrating critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and applying their knowledge and skills to real-world problems.
• Test results will be available sooner to teachers and parents.
• There are embedded supports for English learners and students with special needs.

• Because the Smarter Balanced Assessments are based on the more rigorous Common Core State Standards, students’ scores should not be compared with STAR test results. 
• This first year’s results established a new baseline for the progress we expect students to make over time. 
• These new tests also have a different four-level scoring scale, which includes Standard Exceeded, Standard Met, Standard Nearly Met, and Standard Not Met. 
• Your child’s results will be mailed to you. Here is a link to a sample CAASPP/Smarter Balanced Assessment Student Score Report: CAASPP Student Score Report
• These guides will explain your child’s score report and provide additional resources to help you understand his/her scores:
  • Understanding Your Student Score Report Grade 3
  • Understanding Your Student Score Report Grade 4, 6, & 7
  • Understanding Your Student Score Report Grade 5 & 8 
  • Understanding Your Student Score Report Grade 11

To provide students with the best experience using this online test environment, our district did much advance planning and training. We ensured that necessary technological resources were ready for testing, provided in-classroom support for teachers as their students began testing, and promptly resolved any technical issues that students encountered with the testing software.