The following blueprints are for the grades three through eight English language-arts (ELA) California Modified Assessment (CMA). Additional blueprints are in development for grades nine and ten and will be posted upon adoption by the State Board of Education.
The ELA CMA blueprints consist of 48 or 54 items, depending on the grade level, and contain similar percentages of items per strand to the California Standards Tests (CSTs). The CMA in ELA is taken by students with an individualized education program (IEP) who meet each of the State Board of Education-adopted eligibility criteria.
At grades four and seven, the ELA CMA will also include a writing component that addresses the writing applications standards selected for testing each year. The writing tasks will be field tested in the fall of 2008. This component is not included in these blueprints.
It is also important to note:
- The “# of Items” column shows the numbers of questions testing each standard as well as the total number of questions for each strand. The “%” column shows the percentage of questions assessing each strand.
- A distinction is made between the descriptive statements that precede each set of standards (e.g., 1.0, 2.0), and the standards that are actually being assessed (e.g., 1.1, 2.1).
- In some grades there are standards that, while important, are not assessable in a multiple-choice format. These standards have been identified with the notation “*”. Though these standards are not assessed, they are important to the comprehension of the strand.
