ELPAC email update, October 24, 2023.

Dear California Educator:

The California Science Test (CAST) and English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) Interim Assessments are now available to administer in the test delivery system. The CAST and ELPAC Interim Assessments became available for LEA preview on September 19, 2023, in the Interim Assessment Viewing System. At that time, hand scoring materials and answer keys became available in the Test Operations Management System (TOMS).

Secure materials for the interim assessments continue to be available in TOMS under the [Resources] tab. Student responses to interim assessment items requiring hand scoring will be available to score in either the Teacher Hand Scoring System (used for all interim assessments) or the Data Entry Interface (used for specific ELPAC Interim Assessments).

Once hand scoring is completed, the following data will become available for CAST and ELPAC Interim Assessments in the California Educator Reporting System (CERS):

• Overall scale scores
• Performance levels
• Custom aggregate reports
• Key and distractor analysis for multiple-choice and multi-select items

Test items and student responses will be viewable in CERS in late January 2024, and Individual Student Reports will be available in CERS in late July 2024.

All users in TOMS with roles that can administer summative assessments can also administer any interim assessments. Additionally, the IA Administrator Only role can be assigned to any user and will grant permissions to administer all interim assessments, but not any summative assessments.

The interim assessments are optional and can be administered to students in either a standardized (e.g., benchmark) or nonstandardized (e.g., formative) manner, or they can be used by school and district staff for professional development. The purpose of the interim assessments is to provide teachers and administrators with data they can use to support teaching and learning. While the interim assessments provide meaningful information for gauging student progress toward mastery of their subject matter proficiency, they are not designed to be predictive of summative outcomes.

Links to relevant resources and systems are all available on the CAASPP Interim Assessment Administration Resources web page and the ELPAC Interim Assessment Administration Resources web page.

For further support, use the Get Answers lookup tool, and LEA Coordinators can contact the assigned LEA Success Agent .

Sincerely,

California Outreach Team

CAASPP website and ELPAC website

Contact Us: California Outreach web page