Grade Two Testing Continues through the STAR Program Sunset Date of 2011
California Education Code Section 60640, amended by Senate Bill 80, has re-authorized grade two testing until June 30, 2011. For the 2007-08 year, the California Modified Assessment (CMA) will only be operational for grades three through five. As of July 1, 2007, the state was not authorized per law to continue work on developing or field testing a grade two CMA test.
Demographic Data Corrections Extended
School districts have the opportunity to correct student demographic data for the spring 2007 STAR tests. Information about the process and charges for data corrections are included in the 2007 STAR Post-Test Guide. District STAR Coordinators should indicate their intent to file data corrections by submitting the data correction request form to Educational Testing Service (ETS), the STAR test contractor. The date to submit the data correction request has been extended from October 13 to October 22. The date for entering the corrections has been extended from October 31 to November 7.
California Modified Assessment Update
Using the guidance provided by the federal regulations, the California Department of Education (CDE) has developed the suggested CMA participation criteria to be used by an individualized education program (IEP) team in its determination of whether a student should be assessed using the CMA. At the September State Board of Education (SBE) meeting, suggested participation criteria for the CMA were presented and released for public comment. The SBE item can be found at SBE agenda Item 42 (DOC; 110KB; 5pp.). Please e-mail any comments on the criteria to the STAR office at STAR@cde.ca.gov. Comments on the suggested criteria will be taken into account when producing the CMA participation criteria that will go to the SBE for adoption at the November 2007 meeting.
In addition, the SBE approved the CMA blueprints for English-language arts, grades six, seven, and eight; mathematics, grades six and seven; and science, grade eight. The blueprints will be posted on the CDE Web site within the next few weeks. The SBE item can be found at SBE agenda Item 41 (DOC; 576KB; 26pp.).
Standards-based Tests in Spanish (STS) Update
The SBE approved the reading/language arts blueprints for the STS for grades eight through eleven and mathematics blueprints for Algebra 1 and Geometry. The SBE approved items can be found at the Web site listed above for the CMA blueprints.
The administration of the STS will be for grades two through seven in 2007-08. The Aprenda test will be given to students in grades eight through eleven.
Ordering and Pre–Identification Workshops
ETS will be conducting ordering and pre-identification (pre-ID) workshops in October, November, and December in locations throughout the state to assist STAR Coordinators with order placement for STAR materials. To support STAR Coordinators, workshops will be held to ensure that correct pre-ID of STAR test materials procedures is followed. A complete list of workshop dates can be found on the STAR Web site (Outside Source).
Certification of 2007 Apportionment Information Reports
District superintendents and charter school administrators whose schools tested independently of the district will receive STAR 2007 Apportionment Information Reports in late October. All the information on the reports is taken directly from the district’s or charter’s Student Data File, which was compiled from answer documents submitted for scoring. The STAR district and test site coordinators are responsible for inventory control and returning all test materials at the completion of testing to the contractor within the required time period per California Code of Regulations, Title 5, Education, Division 1, Chapter 2, Subchapter 3.75. The report includes counts of students tested with the California Standards Tests (CSTs), California Achievement Test, Sixth Edition Survey (CAT/6 Survey), California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA),
STS, Aprenda 3, and students exempted by parent or guardian request or for whom only demographic information was submitted.
To be eligible for apportionment payment for the STAR Program, school districts and charter schools that tested independently of their district must certify the accuracy of the apportionment information report for examinations administered during the calendar year. Certified reports must be postmarked by December 31, 2007. If a district or charter school does not return a certified report to the CDE by the December 31, 2007, deadline, the district or charter school may apply for a waiver of the deadline to be approved by the SBE.
The 2007 apportionment amounts are as follows:
- $2.52 for each student tested with the CST and CAT/6 Survey
- $5.00 for each student tested with the CAPA
- $2.52 for each student tested with the STS
- $2.44 for each student tested with the Aprenda 3
- $0.38 for each student with only demographic information (absent entire testing period, exempt by parent or guardian request, etc.)
If any school(s) within the district or charter school failed edit checks to verify the completeness of student demographic data, the CDE will withhold $1.32 from the district apportionment for each student for whom a demographic edit check was triggered, and the contractor must request missing data for the CST and CAT/6 Survey, STS, or CAPA to complete test scoring.
Note: Please regularly check the Educational Testing Service (ETS) STAR Web site (Outside Source) for updates on test administration set up, ordering materials, pre-ID, and upcoming workshops and Webcasts.
