2024 Assessment Data Release FAQs
Frequently asked questions related to the release of 2024 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) and English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) statewide results.What do the scores mean for the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for English Language Arts/Literacy (ELA) and Mathematics and the California Science Test (CAST)?
Student test results for overall performance are categorized into four achievement levels that describe the relative accuracy and complexity of students’ performance within their grade level.
Each of the four achievement levels may be interpreted as follows:
- Level 4: Students consistently demonstrate advanced grade-level knowledge and skills with deep understanding and a full range of complexity.
- Level 3: Students consistently demonstrate proficient grade-level knowledge and skills with a broad range of complexity.
- Level 2: Students demonstrate foundational grade-level knowledge and skills with a limited range of complexity.
- Level 1: Students demonstrate inconsistent grade-level knowledge and skills.
Levels 2–4 represent grade-level performance at differing degrees of complexity and Level 1 represents inconsistent or minimal grade-level performance.
In addition to the overall achievement level and scale score, students also receive results for specific areas on each test, such as Reading and Listening for ELA, and Concepts and Procedures for mathematics. This degree of results reporting provides students, families, and educators with more information to better understand student achievement and progress while meeting the requirements of federal law.
How did the demographics of the students tested in the 2023–24 school year change from the prior year?
There continues to be an increase in the number of students with greatest needs. The proportion of students tested who are identified as socioeconomically disadvantaged increased from 63 percent in 2023 to 65 percent in 2024. The number of students who are experiencing homelessness has also increased.
How well did students perform on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress overall?
English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics
When compared to the results from the previous administration, the percentage of students in California meeting or exceeding standard increased slightly for ELA (46.7 percent in 2022–23 to 47.0 percent in 2023–24) and mathematics (34.6 percent in 2022–23 to 35.5 percent in 2023–24). For mathematics, the mean scale score increased across all grades, particularly at grade eight. For ELA, the mean scale score increased slightly for grades three, five, six, and eleven.
California Science Test
Student performance on the CAST showed a continued improvement with the percentage of students meeting or exceeding the standard increasing slightly from 30.2 percent in 2022–23 to 30.7 percent in 2023–24. The percentage of students reaching “standard exceeded” (Level 4) increased across all grade levels. Average scale scores were very similar for grade five and high school but increased slightly for grade eight. Students identified as socioeconomically disadvantaged exhibited a larger score increase than students identified as not socioeconomically disadvantaged. Students who are Asian, Black or African American, and Hispanic or Latino demonstrated greater improvements and experienced smaller declines compared to students who are white. Migrant students and students of armed forces families showed score decreases this year.
California Spanish
Overall, 3,355 fewer students took the California Spanish Assessment (CSA) in 2024, representing a decrease of approximately 6 percent. Participation in the CSA was down across all grades, except grades four and eight. The proportion of students who reached the highest score reporting range dropped in 2024 by approximately 0.7 percent on average. In 2024–25, the fully expanded CSA is intended to meet, in part, the requirements of the State Seal of Biliteracy once approved by the legislature. Currently, the proportion of high school students who reached the highest score reporting range increased in 2024 by approximately 0.5 percent on average with the grade 12 students showing the largest growth with a 7.1 percent increase.
California Alternate Assessments for English, Mathematics, and Science
For the California Alternate Assessments (CAAs) for ELA and mathematics, the percentage of students who reached Level 3 increased by 1.6 and 0.6, respectively—when compared to the 2022–23 administration. For the CAAs for ELA, the proportion of students reaching Level 3 increased in every grade, except grades three and four. The proportion of students reaching Level 3 in math also improved in every grade, except grades six and seven. Although the percentage of students reaching Level 3 on the CAA for Science decreased by approximately 3.6 percent, the share of students in Level 1 also shrank across all grade levels, while the percentage of students in Level 2 increased across the board.
How well did the student groups perform on the CAASPP?
Across nearly all grades, students identified as socioeconomically disadvantaged earned a larger improvement in both ELA and mathematics than those who are not socioeconomically disadvantaged in 2023–24 compared to 2022–23. Black or African American and Hispanic or Latino student groups realized average scale score increases at every tested grade level in mathematics. In general, student groups identified as English learners, homeless, armed forces family members, and students with disabilities made less improvement or experienced more declines than their counterparts.
Refer to the Test Results for California’s Assessments website
for more detailed reports of the 2023–24 results aggregated by school, district, county, and state levels and disaggregated by student groups as well as all prior administration years where data is available.
Is California still using the adjusted blueprint for the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics?
Yes. Prior to the beginning of the 2020–21 administration, the State Board of Education (SBE) adopted the use of the adjusted form blueprint for the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments for ELA and Mathematics. In September 2022, the SBE approved use of the adjusted blueprints for the 2022–23 administration and for subsequent administrations until the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium approves any changes to the adjusted form blueprints. The blueprints have remained unchanged since that time.
Can results from the adjusted blueprint be compared with results from years that did not use the adjusted blueprint?
The 2023–24 results are comparable to the 2022–23 and prior years' CAASPP results. The California Department of Education and its testing contractor, ETS, have performed validity and reliability studies comparing the full form blueprints to the adjusted form blueprints and have concluded that the results from the adjusted form blueprints are reliable and can be compared to those from the full form blueprints used in 2018–19 and earlier administrations.
How well did English learner students do on the Summative English Language Proficiency Assessments for California?
For the Summative English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC), the number of students who tested decreased by 1.9 percent compared to the 2022–23 school year (1,051,695 and 1,031,448, respectively). The percentage of students reaching Overall Performance Level 4 decreased to 14.6 percent in 2023–24, from the prior year of 16.5 percent. The percentage of students meeting Level 4 decreased from 2022–23 for all grades except grade twelve. Average scale scores for kindergarten and grade nine dropped the most (around 11 points). Average scale scores for other grades decreased between 4 to 10 points. The average scale score for grade twelve is approximately the same as last year. This decrease in performance on the Summative ELPAC may be due to an increase in the number of students assessed on the Initial ELPAC in 2023–24 and more students identified as English learners at the “novice” or lowest level compared to
2022–23.
The percentage of students identified as socioeconomically disadvantaged who earned Overall Performance Level 4 decreased from 15.7 percent in 2022–23 to 13.9 percent in 2023–24. The percentage of students identified as not socioeconomically disadvantaged decreased from 21.1 percent in 2022–23 to 18.8 percent in 2023–24. The socioeconomically disadvantaged student group experienced smaller declines in the percentage earning Level 4 than their counterparts who are not socioeconomically disadvantaged. In general, students who are homeless, migrant students, and students with no reported disabilities showed larger score decreases from 2022–23 to 2023–24 than their counterparts.
ELPAC test and additional student group results, refer to the Test Results for California’s Assessments website
.
How well did English learner students with the most significant cognitive disabilities do on the Summative Alternate English Language Proficiency Assessments for California?
For the Summative Alternate ELPAC, the number of students who tested decreased slightly to 16,933, compared to the 2022–23 school year total of 17,773. The percentage of students reaching Level 3 is 22.8 percent in 2023–24, a decrease of approximately 3.3 percent from last year. The proportion of students scoring as Fluent English Proficient (Level 3) declined by approximately 3.3 percent in 2023–24. In contrast, the share of students classified as Novice English Learners (Level 1) increased by approximately 3.4 percent. The percentage of students identified as Intermediate English Learners (Level 2) did not significantly change from the previous year.
What can this data be used for?
Summative assessment results are only one indicator of student achievement. They should be used in conjunction with other indicators, such as report cards, teacher feedback, and classwork to provide a more complete picture of an individual student’s progress in school.
Throughout the year, educators also use diagnostic and formative assessments to gauge student progress toward mastering California’s challenging learning standards. These help teachers adjust instruction to make up for knowledge gaps and learning disparities between students.
In addition, parents and guardians receive individual student score reports so they can support learning outside of the classroom.
Aggregate assessment results should be used in conjunction with other data—such as high school graduation rates, student discipline data, attendance information and college readiness indicators—to get a fuller picture of how schools are helping students succeed. This data, broken down by student groups, is available on the California School Dashboard (with a 2024 release coming in November). This data is also used by schools working with their communities to develop Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs). LCAPs empower families, educators, community partners, and students to analyze data to drive important decisions about the best use of state resources.
Are the aggregations posted to the Test Results for California’s Assessments website the same as those used on the California School Dashboard?
The aggregations used on the Test Results for California’s Assessments website
differ slightly from those used for the California School Dashboard
. The data on the Test Results for California’s Assessments website reflects where students tested while the data on the California School Dashboard reflects the groups of students for which each LEA is held accountable. For more information surrounding the accountability calculations for the California School Dashboard, please visit the Dashboard Resources web page.