Published Apr. 7, 2022
BY CLAIRE PETERSON
After being waived in the 2020-21 school year, the California Assessment of Student Testing and Progress program is resuming throughout California, and Carmel High teachers are working to prepare their students for the assessments.
The CAASPP curriculum consists of English, math and science assessments designed to appraise the ability of elementary schoolers, middle schoolers and high school juniors to retain and learn information in accordance with state standards. The testing block takes place over a period of multiple days to provide students with enough time to complete it.
“They have more than one day to finish it,” CHS math department chair Steve Nacht says, “which I like because it gives them time to double check their answers and really ponder the questions.”
The test results do not count directly towards strengthening students’ chances of being admitted to colleges–the purpose of the test is simply to assess students on certain subjects and prepare them for college coursework. Test scores can be used by schools to help guide them towards finding what classes would be most suitable for students in the following years, such as assisting them in deciding which students would excel in certain classes.
(courtesy of FLICKR)
“All juniors take the English language arts and math Smarter Balanced portion of the test,” CHS English department chair Barbara McBride explains. “It was waived last year because of COVID-19, so I think students have sort of forgotten what it’s like.”
Teachers are finding a variety of ways to prepare their students for the assessments. Junior English teachers, including McBride, are going to spend the weeks leading up to the test assigning their students smaller writing assignments, many of which will be timed.
“I’m planning on giving my Pre-Calculus and Calculus AB classes some practice Smarter Balance tests,” Nacht says, “so that they can get a feel of what the actual test will be like.”
Students can also access online practice tests through the official CAASPP website, which they can do on their own to prepare for the assessments.
The Smarter Balanced assessments are mandated for all juniors, unless parents choose to waive it for their child, but certain parts of the CAASPP test, such as the science portion, are not required to be taken by every student.
The math portion of the test takes place from April 19 to 25 and the English testing is from May 16 to 20.
