Assessment Spotlight, Issue 239

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 .

Register for Your Spot at the 2023 High School Equivalency and Proficiency Summer Convenings!

Registration is free for the 2023 High School Equivalency (HSE) and Proficiency Summer Convenings that will be happening across California from August 7–18, 2023! The informational flyer provides additional details. The California Department of Education (CDE) invites chief examiners, test site administrators, school counselors, and others with a connection to HSE and Proficiency exams to attend a session. These convenings are designed to provide timely updates and to collect valuable feedback regarding the HSE and proficiency exams.

• August 7 – Sacramento (at capacity)
• August 8 – Red Bluff
• August 9 – Walnut Creek
• August 10 – Fresno (6 spaces left)
  
• August 15 – Ventura
• August 16 – Pomona (9 spaces left)
• August 17 – Riverside
• August 18 – San Diego (8 spaces left)

More information can be found on the 2023 High School Equivalency Summer Convenings web page .

2023 California Assessment Conference—Featuring Keynote Speakers, Dr. Andrew Ho and Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa

Register today for the 2023 California Assessment Conference (CAC) scheduled for October 9–10, 2023 in Sacramento, California!

The conference will feature two excellent keynote addresses by Dr. Andrew Ho, an assessment expert from Harvard University, and Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, a world-renowned neurosurgeon and a former migrant worker in the fields of central California.

For more information about the conference, the keynote speakers, and to register visit the CAC website . We look forward to seeing you there!

July’s Featured Resource in Tools for Teachers—Tell Me More

“You’ve piqued my interest—Tell me more!” High school English teachers can guide students to learn more about elaboration with this month’s featured Tools for Teachers instructional resource, Tell Me More (account required). The activities and materials provided for this lesson help teachers by giving clear step-by-step directions for helping students identify relevant details in sentences and discuss how those details have been developed using elaboration.

The lesson begins with the teacher providing the definition of elaboration and building students’ background knowledge using an Anchor Chart to discuss elaboration strategies. During direct teacher instruction and guided practice, students use a graphic organizer designed to help identify elaboration in a text. As the lesson progresses, students use text from a high school English language arts/literacy performance task to practice identifying elaboration in a sample student response. The lesson concludes with students completing an Exit Ticket to explain an elaboration strategy they would use for developing a specific piece of text.

This instructional resource is available in two Tools for Teachers Interim Assessment Connections Playlists: Revisions and Performance Tasks. 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 , 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.