Kindergarten – Grade 1 (K-1) Early Literacy Assessment
On July 16, 2008, WestEd and the California Department of Education (CDE) California English Language Development Test (CELDT) staff conducted a conference call with the CELDT Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for the purpose of reviewing draft K–1 Reading and Writing test documents that included the guiding principles for administration, test content, and specifications for the development of the questions. Experts in English Language Proficiency (ELP), early literacy, and early child development/curriculum met on August 1, 2008, to provide critical guidance to WestEd on K-1 item development. At the September 26, 2008, CELDT TAG meeting, WestEd will present the draft blueprint, guiding principles, and test specifications for final review and comment.
Upcoming Content, Bias and Sensitivity Review, and Anchor Selection Meetings
Content Review by teachers and second-language acquisition experts of newly-written items is scheduled for October 7-8. A follow-up Bias and Sensitivity Review by educators and school board members is scheduled for October 10. Once approved, the new items will be field tested in the 2009-10 CELDT Edition.
Additionally, CTB/McGraw-Hill (CTB), the test contractor, will hold an Anchor Selection meeting on October 22 and 23. During this meeting, educators will select a variety of student responses to constructed-response items that will be used in the CELDT 2009-10 Edition as samples for the different rubrics’ score points.
These upcoming workshops require diverse representation of California educators and researchers. Participants will review items to be field tested in the next edition and choose writing item responses that reflect samples at each grade span, for each rubric score for the current field test items.
From August 4 through August 29, CTB reopened the window for recruiting qualified people who may be considered for participation in the review process. Educators are encouraged to inform potentially interested parties in their districts and schools, including board members, and individuals with experience working with English Learners (EL). A recruitment survey may be found on the CTB CELDT Web page (Outside Source) under News and Updates.
For further inquiries please contact the CTB CELDT Help Desk by phone at
1-800-994-8594 or by e-mail at ctbceldthelpdesk@ctb.com.
Ordering Pre-ID labels
Districts may order Pre-Identification (Pre-ID) bar code labels for the CELDT 2008-09 Edition from CTB.
School districts must place their orders by 5:00 p.m. on September 12, 2008, and must upload their files, make any necessary corrections, and mark files complete by 5 p.m. on September 19, 2008.
A list of important reminders, additional information, and Pre-ID Layout downloads can be found on the CTB Web site (Outside Source) by selecting the Test Administration & Document Processing link.
More Information
Additional information about the CELDT is available on the CELDT Web page. Questions may be directed to the CELDT Help Desk by phone at 1-800-994-8594 or by e-mail at ctbceldthelpdesk@ctb.com.
