Upcoming Opportunities to Participate in Test Development and Essay Scoring
Educational Testing Service (ETS), the contractor for the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE), is accepting applications for mathematics and English-language arts (ELA) item reviewers and essay scorers for the ELA portion of the CAHSEE. Additionally, ETS will be seeking school districts to volunteer to participate in a December field test of ELA writing prompts. Districts are encouraged to participate in the writing prompt field test and to notify teachers of the item review and essay scoring opportunities. Further information about these opportunities can be obtained by calling ETS CAHSEE Support at 1-800-241-5687.
Release of 2006-07 Summary Results
On August 23, the California Department of Education (CDE) will release to the public summary results for the 2006–07 CAHSEE administrations. Results at the school, district, county, and state levels will be posted on the CDE CAHSEE Reports Web site.
The CDE has released the CAHSEE assistance packet Explaining 2006–07 Summary Results to assist in navigating the CDE Web site to access summary CAHSEE results and in understanding the online summary reports. This assistance packet is available on the CDE CAHSEE Resources Web site.
2006–07 Apportionment Information Reports
In late August, the CAHSEE Apportionment Information Report for the 2006–07 school year will be mailed to county and district superintendents and charter school administrators. They are required to certify that the district has returned all secure test materials, certify the accuracy of the report, sign and date the report, and return it to the Standards and Assessment Division. Administration apportionments may be withheld from any school district that failed to return all of its secure test materials. The certified reports must be postmarked by December 31, 2007. Certified reports received after this date must be accompanied by a waiver request as provided by California Education Code Section 33050.
The CAHSEE apportionment is $3.00 for each student tested, regardless of whether the student took one or both sections (English-language arts and/or mathematics) of the CAHSEE. The CAHSEE apportionment for students not tested is $0.32 and applies only to the grade ten students who were absent during the census administration (February or March), and for whom demographic data were submitted.
Questions about CAHSEE apportionments should be directed to the CDE CAHSEE Office at 916-445-9449.
Test Administration Training Web Cast
On September 6, the CDE and ETS will provide a Web cast to prepare district and test site coordinators for the fall 2007 administrations of the CAHSEE. The Web cast will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and can be accessed on the San Diego County Office of Education Web site (Outside Source). For more information about the Web cast, please contact ETS CAHSEE Support at 1-800-241-5687.
2007-08 CAHSEE Project Calendar and Scheduling Guidelines
Guidelines for scheduling CAHSEE administrations during the 2007-08 school year are available on the CDE CAHSEE Administration Web site. The guidelines address various topics, including the number of times students may take the exam per school year. The 2007-08 CAHSEE project calendar also serves as a resource for scheduling administrations. The project calendar contains ordering deadlines as well as the dates by which school districts can expect to receive their shipments of test materials and score reports. The project calendar is posted on the ETS Web site (Outside Source) under “Scheduling.”
Excessive Test Materials Ordering Fee
At its May 2007 meeting, the State Board of Education adopted proposed regulations that make school districts responsible for the cost of excessive materials ordered by the school district. It is anticipated that, beginning with the February 2008 administration of the CAHSEE, school districts will be held accountable for excessive material orders. Please note the following points regarding excessive material orders:
- School districts will only be charged for over orders that exceed 20%. The quantity must also be greater than 100.
- The automatic overage of test booklets that schools and districts receive, 5% and 10% respectively, will not be factored into the calculation of excessive material orders.
- The calculation of excessive materials will be done annually, and will combine orders for all administrations within the school year. This will allow school districts to balance out their orders over the course of the school year.
- In no case will the cost to the school district for excessive materials exceed the amount per test booklet and accompanying material that is paid to the contractor by the CDE as part of the contract with the test contractor.
Beginning with the October 2007 CAHSEE administration, school districts will receive their individual student results approximately seven weeks after each test administration. If a district selects a test administration schedule that requires it to order materials prior to receipt of results from the previous administration, then it should estimate its needs based on the passing rate from the previous school year’s administration. School districts continue to have available to them supplemental shipment requests which can be made as late as one week prior to the administration.
Translations of Parent Notification Assistance Packet Now Available
In June 2007, the CDE released the CAHSEE assistance packet Notifying Parents and Guardians for the 2007–08 School Year. This assistance packet, which is posted on the CDE CAHSEE Resources Web site, includes a sample notification flyer and suggestions for informing students and their parents or guardians about the CAHSEE. This month, a translation of the parent documents in this assistance packet will be posted on the CDE Web site in the following languages: Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), and Hmong.
Distribution of Study Guides
This month, copies of the CAHSEE study guides will be shipped to school districts for this year’s grade ten students. As in previous years, there is a separate study guide for each portion of the CAHSEE: English-language arts and mathematics. A copy of each study guide is to be provided to each grade ten student in the school district.
Extra study guides are included in each school district’s shipment. Below are suggested uses for these extra study guides:
- Provide to middle school and high school English-language arts and math teachers throughout the school district for instructional purposes.
- Provide to the school library for student checkout.
- Provide to adult students who have not taken, or taken and not passed, the CAHSEE.
- Provide to grade eleven and twelve students who have not yet passed the CAHSEE.
- Provide to grade nine students who may not be showing sufficient progress in the standards assessed on the CAHSEE.
Districts will not be charged for this shipment of study guides, but any additional copies of the study guides must be obtained by accessing them on the CDE CAHSEE Resources Web site. There are no significant differences between this year’s and last year’s editions of the study guides.
Upcoming North-South Meetings
The Standards and Assessment Division will provide an update on each of its testing programs at its annual North-South Meetings. The meetings will be held in Sacramento on October 9 and in Ontario on October 16. Further information about the North-South meetings will be sent to district test coordinators next month.
More Information
Additional information about the CAHSEE is available on the CDE Web site. Questions about the CAHSEE can be directed to the CAHSEE Office, at 916-445-9449.
