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Centralia Elementary School District

State and Local Assessments

STATE ASSESSMENTS

California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (April/May)

In 2014, state lawmakers established the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) system of assessments to measure student achievement in a variety of content areas. CAASPP is comprised of the following assessment components.

  1. Smarter Balanced Assessments:  Developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), the Smarter Balanced Assessments are computer-adaptive tests and performance tasks that allow students to show what they know and are able to do. These summative assessments, often referred to collectively as “the SBAC,” measure student mastery of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts/literacy and mathematics. They are administered annually to students in grades three through six at the end of each school year.

  2. California Science Test (CAST):  This assessment is aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards and is administered annually to fifth-grade students.  

  3. California Alternate Assessments (CAA):  The California Alternate Assessments for English language arts/literacy, mathematics, and science ensure that students with the most significant cognitive disabilities achieve increasingly higher academic outcomes and leave high school ready for post-secondary options. Individualized Education Plan (IEP) teams determine when a child with a significant cognitive disability should participate in an alternate assessment.
English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) 
State and federal law require school districts to annually administer a state test of English proficiency to English learners. The ELPAC is aligned to the California English Language Development Standards and assesses a student’s ability to read, write, listen, and speak the English language. Students who are able to demonstrate proficiency in these four areas, and who are able to successfully interact with grade-level curriculum are reclassified as Fluent English Proficient during our annual reclassification process. Students who are not yet considered proficient in English continue to get the instruction and support they need to become proficient. To help students do their best on this annual assessment, families can access online practice ELPAC tests.

Physical Fitness Test (PFT) (March)

The physical fitness test for fifth-grade students in California is the FITNESSGRAM, which is a comprehensive, health-related battery developed by The Cooper Institute. The test is administered annually and measures fitness levels in six areas, each of which can offer a degree of defense against diseases that come from inactivity. The primary goal of the FITNESSGRAM is to assist students in establishing lifetime habits of regular physical activity.

LOCAL ASSESSMENTS
In addition to administering all state-mandated assessments, Centralia School District also administers i-Ready Diagnostics and district benchmarks to monitor progress toward mastery of grade-level standards and to identify any learning gaps. Teachers use data derived from these assessments to plan differentiated instruction to meet each student’s individual learning needs.