Assessment Spotlight, Issue 217

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 .

Tools for Teachers: Science Educator Interest Survey

Educators are invited to apply to participate in a three-day workshop in the Sacramento area from June 13 to June 15, 2023, to develop science instructional resources for the Tools for Teachers website. Participants will have six to eight weeks to complete an asynchronous pretraining course prior to the start of the workshop.

Tools for Teachers currently offers over 65 science resources created by educators from across the state. Resources include ready-to-use materials that are just a click away and can easily be adapted to meet the needs of students in diverse settings. Educators can obtain a Tools for Teachers account either through self-registration web page (PDF) or by contacting their local educational agency (LEA) CAASPP coordinator. Resources on Tools for Teachers are free for California kindergarten through grade twelve public school educators.

If you are interested in participating in the next round of development of these science instructional resources for Tools for Teachers, complete this interest survey by Friday, February 3, 2023. We are looking forward to working with you this summer!

January’s Featured Resource in Tools for Teachers—Inspiring Investigation: Interpreting & Analyzing Figurative Language

This month’s featured Tools for Teachers instructional resource—Inspiring Investigations: Interpreting & Analyzing Figurative Language (account required)—provides high school teachers with step-by-step directions for how to guide students to recognize, analyze, and explain the meaning of figurative language in a text and the impact it has on the overall meaning and tone, using William Wordsworth’s poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”.

Students work individually and in groups to answer guided reading questions during the lesson activities in this resource. The questions focus on how figurative words and phrases in Wordsworth’s poem impact meaning and tone. Habits of Mind strategies are embedded in the questions which challenge students to use critical and close reading, helping them become more independent and competent readers. Three levels of reading questions are provided for the teacher to use with students, depending on the support needed as they examine the language in the poem. An extension activity is also available for further independent practice. This lesson helps students move beyond identifying figurative language, challenging them to consider how the language in a text impacts the overall meaning.

This resource is included in the English language arts/literacy Interim Assessment Connections Playlist for high school—Read Literary Texts. Each playlist consists of instructional resources that can be used to teach the content assessed on the corresponding Interim Assessment Block. To access this resource and other instructional resources, LEA staff will need a free Tools for Teachers account, which can be obtained either through self-registration web page (PDF) 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 California Department of Education Assessment Spotlight web page to find previous issues.