1. Welcome to the 2015–16 CAASPP Institute!
California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP)
Welcome to the
2015–16 CAASPP Institute!
5 minutes Running Time = 5 minutes
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Introduce training delivery team members
Ask for “shout-outs” from districts/schools in attendance
HOUSEKEEPING
Restroom location
Morning break about 10:30
Lunch break at 12:00 noon
Wifi access (will vary by location)
ESTABLISH NORMS
Ask that all cell phones be turned to off or silent and that they refrain from texting
You are all here to learn and plan together and in order for those activities to be successful we all need to be “present” in the room throughout the Institute.
TRAINING MATERIALS
All of you should have a three-ring binder of materials that you picked up when you checked in. That binder includes everything that we will be working with over the next two days.

2. Purpose of the CAASPP Institute
Provide an in-depth opportunity for teams from school districts and schools to learn about the CAASPP System, particularly with regard to the Smarter Balanced assessment system.
1 minute Running Time = 6 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: Introduce the purpose of the CAASPP Institutes
Presenter says:
It is so wonderful to have so many people in the room today representing so many schools and school districts that are ready to take their implementation of the CAASPP System to the next level. And we are so excited to share all the information with you to help you get there.
Not only are these institutes a chance to learn more about the CAASPP System, but they are a chance to network with other schools and school districts within the region. Let’s take a few minutes to talk about the purpose of the CAASPP Institutes.
There are three main purposes of the CAASPP Institutes:
Provide an in-depth professional learning opportunity for teams from school districts and schools
To learn about the CAASPP System, especially the Smarter Balanced pieces of this system
The idea of teams is key – many training opportunities provide for 1-2 people from a district or school to attend which sometimes makes it challenging to ignite change
Today we have teams of up to six members from schools or school districts, and sometimes across schools and school districts who will be learning, working, and planning together

3. Purpose of the CAASPP Institute (cont.)
Demonstrate how the CAASPP System can be used to improve teaching and learning.
Provide protected planning time for teams to identify action steps and set timelines for further implementation of the Smarter Balanced assessment system.
1 minute Running Time = 7 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: Introduce the purpose of the CAASPP Institutes
Presenter says:
The next main purpose is to demonstrate ways in which the CAASPP System can be used to improve teaching and learning at your school or school district.
And finally, your team will have protected brainstorming and planning time during the CAASPP Institute to evaluate where your district or school is in the implementation of Smarter Balanced, talk about what worked well last year, what you would like to do this year, and how you will make those plans a reality.

4. Overview of the CAASPP Institute
CAASPP Institute has two sessions (fall and spring)
Components of the Smarter Balanced assessment system
Summative assessments
Interim assessments
Formative assessment process
1 minute Running Time = 8 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: Provide brief overview of what participants should expect over the next two days.
Presenter says:
This Institute is purposefully designed in two sessions, two now and one in the spring.
Over the next two days, you will receive information, participate in activities, brainstorm, and plan around three to four main topics.
When you come back in the spring, we will check in with each team to see how they are doing in implementing the action steps that you identify throughout today and tomorrow.
For this first session we will start with a brief introduction or summary of the CAASPP System.
While the CAASPP Institute focuses primarily on the Smarter Balanced assessment system, the content of this training is applicable for any system of assessments whether it is developed and delivered by the California Department of Education or developed and implemented locally.
Later this morning we will dive directly into a discussion of the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments. This afternoon we will discuss the Smarter Balanced Interim Assessments; and tomorrow we will spend the morning learning about formative assessment practices and the role of the Smarter Balanced Digital Library.

5. Overview of the CAASPP Institute (cont.)
Common threads woven throughout each topic:
Appropriate use of assessments
Understanding and using results
Accessibility supports
1 minute Running Time = 9 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: Provide brief overview of what participants should expect over the next two days.
Presenter says:
Throughout each of these main sections we will focus on common threads and focus on making connections between the different components of the CAASPP System.
Some of the common threads include:
The appropriate use of assessments and the frequency of use
Understanding and using results from variety of assessments available
Use of accessibility supports not only during the assessments but during daily classroom instruction

6. Overview of the CAASPP Institute (cont.)
Time for networking
Time for team planning
System readiness rubric
Planning templates
1 minute Running Time = 10 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: Provide brief overview of what participants should expect over the next two days.
Presenter says:
Today we will spend some time in “job alike” groups right before lunch. That part of the session will give you a chance to connect and network with people who perform a job similar to yours in other schools and school districts. We hope that this is only the start of new collaborations and that you will use these new relationships after you leave the Institute to check in with each other, share successes, lament challenges, and brainstorm together about how to solve them.
One key purpose of the CAASPP Institute is to provide protected time for team planning.
For that team planning time, we have developed some tools to help you establish where your school or district is in terms of implementation of the various pieces of the Smarter Balanced assessment system and we have also designed some guiding or probing questions to help your brainstorming and planning time.
These tools will be used by your team during each of the main topics over the next two days.
A System Readiness Rubric will be introduced at the end of the summative assessment section. It will also be used by your team at the end of the interim assessment and formative assessment sections. It is a tool designed to help your team evaluate your school or school district’s current use and implementation of the three components of the Smarter Balanced assessment system.
Planning Templates will also be used by your team at the end of each section in conjunction with the System Readiness Rubric. The Planning Templates list guiding questions that will encourage team discussion and brainstorming about the current use and possible action steps for furthering use and/or implementation of the three components of the Smarter Balanced assessment system over this school year and into the future.

7. Learning Goals and Success Criteria
2 minutes Running Time = 12 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: Introduction to the learning goals and success criteria of the CAASPP Institutes.
Presenter says:
Now let’s spend just a few minutes reviewing the learning goals and success criteria for the CAASPP Institutes overall.
The terms “learning goals” and “success criteria” are likely familiar to most people in the room, but I want to spend just a minute providing a quick definition of each one and also tell you about our thinking and why we took the time to develop the learning goals and success criteria not only for the Institute overall but also for each individual section of the Institute.
Learning goals identify what students (or in this case, you) will learn. They are often described as “I understand” statements.
Success criteria identify what it takes to meet the learning goal, and in the context of formative assessment, success criteria are used as checks on learning. They are the guide.
Both learning goals and success criteria are critical terms in formative assessment practices and we thought it was important that we model the use of formative assessment practices during these Institutes.

8. CAASPP Institute Learning Goals
Participants will understand:
The purpose and use of the CAASPP System.
The purpose and use of the three components in the Smarter Balanced assessment system.
2 minutes (Slides 8-9) Running Time = 14 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: To describe the learning goals of the CAASPP Institute.
Presenter says:
There are three specific learning goals for the Institute as a whole:
Participants will understand:
The purpose and use of the CAASPP system
The purpose and use of the three components of the Smarter Balanced Assessment System

9. CAASPP Institute Learning Goals (cont.)
Participants will understand:
How the three components of the Smarter Balanced assessment system, and future assessments that will be part of the CAASPP System, can integrate and work together to support high quality teaching and learning for all students, including students with disabilities (SWD) and English learners (ELs).
2 minute (Slides 8-9) Running Time = 14 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: To describe the learning goals of the CAASPP Institute.
Presenter says:
The final learning goal is around how the three components of the Smarter Balanced assessment system work together to support high quality teaching and learning for all students.

10. CAASPP Institute Success Criteria
Participants can:
Identify the current components of the CAASPP System and those planned for future introduction.
Identify specific ways to integrate the three components of the Smarter Balanced assessment system to improve teaching and learning for all students, including SWD and ELs.
1 minute Running Time = 15 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: To describe the success criteria for the CAASPP Institute.
Presenter says:
As I mentioned a few minutes ago, success criteria are described in the things that all participants will be able to do once they leave the Institute.
These are the “can do” statements.
Four success criteria are summarized on this slide and the next one:
Identify components in the CAASPP System
Identify specific ways to integrate the Smarter Balanced assessment system components into teaching and learning at your school or district

11. CAASPP Institute Success Criteria (cont.)
Participants can:
Develop and implement short- and long- term action steps to more fully implement the Smarter Balanced assessment system at their LEA or school. 
Report on the progress and outcome of the implementation of their action steps at the spring CAASPP Institute. Teams can set goals that can be achieved by the spring institute.
1 minute Running Time = 16 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: To describe the success criteria for the CAASPP Institute.
Presenter says:
The last two success criteria focus on your planning time to develop both short and long term action steps and then, when you come back in February that you are reporting out to the group progress and outcomes of that implementation.
Any questions?

12. CAASPP System Overview
1 minute Running Time = 17 minutes
Slide(s) Intent:
Presenter says:
We are going to spend the next few minutes talking about the CAASPP System to make sure that everyone in the room has a common understanding of the system, including its purpose, what it includes now and how it will expand to include more assessments in the future.

13. CAASPP System CAASPP became state law on January 1, 2014.
The CAASPP System replaced the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program that had been in place since 1998.
CAASPP = California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress
2 minutes Running Time = 19 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: To provide participants information on the background of the CAASPP System.
Presenter says:
The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress became California’s new student testing program in 2014 replacing the former STAR program.
Notice the name includes two very important words – performance and progress.
The assessments in this system, especially those in English-language arts and math were designed to provide two pieces of information to teachers, students, and their families:
Performance – this is how well a student, or group of students, performed on the assessment against the grade level achievement standards that have been set.
Progress – this is how much change a student, or group of students, has demonstrated. Common measures of progress might be the improvement between one grade and the next, or student improvement from an interim assessment administered in the fall as compared to the summative assessment administered in the spring. Now with spring 2015 as the baseline year for the new Smarter Balanced Assessments we are still too early in the implementation to evaluate progress, but once the system has two data points, considerable work will take place to evaluate change from year to year, grade to grade, etc.

14. A New System with a New Purpose
The primary purpose of the CAASPP System is to assist teachers, administrators, students, and parents to promote high-quality teaching and learning through the use of a variety of assessment approaches and item types.
1 minute Running Time = 20 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: To provide participants a comparison between the purpose of the CAASPP System and its strong focus on promoting teaching and learning.
Presenter says:
One of the main differences between the STAR program and the CAASPP System is included in the state law authorizing the CAASPP System.
This system is designed to assist teachers and others in promoting high quality teaching and learning for all students, including students with disabilities and English learners.
Let’s take a closer look at what this means and the important shifts that have taken place in California.

15. A New System with a New Purpose (cont.)TO
FROM
Assessment for Teaching and Learning
Multi-faceted system
Part of the instructional cycle
Focus on continuous improvement
Tools for teachers
Assessment for Accountability
Once a year
3 minutes Running Time = 23 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: To provide participants a comparison between the purpose of the CAASPP System and its strong focus on promoting teaching and learning.
Presenter says:
Under the STAR Program, California was in a place where assessments were designed primarily for accountability purposes.
The principal goal of our new assessment system – assessment for teaching and learning – is independent of test scores themselves. Rather, these new assessments are a central part of a comprehensive plan for school improvement because assessments provide schools and teachers with models for high-quality instruction as well as send a powerful signal about California’s educational goals.
As educators become more familiar with the specific skills students must master to perform well on assessments that require problem-solving, critical thinking, and analytical writing, they will increasingly tailor classroom instruction to address these needs. In the process, they will naturally work in greater alignment with California’s goals of career and college readiness for all students.
Now we have a system in place that has multiple components designed to provide rich information about student strengths and weaknesses and there is hope that this system will become a natural part of the instructional cycle – not an “add on” as STAR was often viewed. More importantly, this new system includes tools for classroom teachers – tools like scoring rubrics for the interim assessments, formative assessment tools and resources in the Smarter Balanced Digital Library, and the California Curriculum frameworks (which provide guidance for implementing the content standards).

16. CAASPP System Components
2 minutes Running Time = 25 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: To demonstrate that the CAASPP System is an umbrella that includes different assessments in different subject areas for different student populations.
Presenter says:
One similarity that the CAASPP System shares with the former STAR Program is that they both serve as an umbrella and under it are a number of different components.
This slide shows that the CAASPP System includes assessments in several different subject areas and for several different populations of students.
It includes assessments in ELA, mathematics, and science.
And it serves all students, including those with severe cognitive disabilities through the California Alternate Assessment and for English learner students through the Standards based Tests in Spanish.
The Smarter Balanced assessment system is just one part of the CAASPP System, even though it, in and of itself, is a very comprehensive system.
The Smarter Balanced assessment system provides summative and interim assessments in English-language arts and mathematics.
It also includes the Digital Library which is an online repository of formative assessment resources and tools for use in daily classroom instruction that have been developed and reviewed by other classroom teachers throughout the country.

17. Assessment Cycles by Purpose
2 minutes Running Time = 29 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: To introduce the concept of assessment cycles and focus on the purpose and frequency of the different types of assessments.
Presenter says:
This graphic (Assessment Cycles by Purpose) is one that is used to describe the relationship between the three assessment components that are part of the CAASPP System. This figure is from the ELA/ELD Framework.
It demonstrates one way to think about assessment for different purposes by conceptualizing assessment as operating in different cycles: short, medium, and long.
Those assessments that are more proximate to student learning (i.e., minute-by-minute, daily, weekly) operate in a short cycle because they address a short period of teaching and learning. Short-cycle assessment serves a formative purpose because its intended use is to inform immediate teaching and learning. Assessments administered at the end of the year are long-cycle because they cover a much longer period of learning. They are primarily used for summative purposes.
Each section of the CAASPP Institute will touch more deeply on each of the three cycles of assessment.
Adapted from Herman and Heritage (2007)
The ELA/ELD Framework was adopted by the California State Board of Education on July 9, The ELA/ELD Framework has not been edited for publication. © 2014 by the California Department of Education.

18. 2 minutes Running Time = 27 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: To introduce the “triangle” graphic briefly as it will be covered more extensively in other sections during the CAASPP Institute.
Presenter says:
Most of you have likely seen this triangle graphic before and you will see it several times during our presentations today and tomorrow because it illustrates the connections between the three components of the Smarter Balanced assessment system.
The key here is that Smarter Balanced is a system and all components are designed to work together.
In the center of this graphic is the triangle that illustrates that the goal of the system is that teacher and schools have the information that they need to improve teaching and learning.

19. Activity
Purpose is to assess pre-existing knowledge in key topic areas:
Summative assessments
Interim assessments
Formative assessment practices
1 minute Running Time = 30 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: To assess pre-existing knowledge of participants about the three components of the Smarter Balanced assessment system.
Presenter says:
Okay, now we want you to take out your cell phones or other electronic device that you brought with you today.
We are going to do a pre-test of your knowledge of the three main topics areas that we plan to cover during the CAASPP Institutes.

20. Activity (cont.) Go to www.socrative.com to access the quiz.
Rating scale:
4 = Strong and able to lead others
3 = Ok, but not fully confident
2 = Definite gaps in knowledge/skill
1 = Weak in this area
7 minutes Running Time 37 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: To assess pre-existing knowledge of participants about the three components of the Smarter Balanced assessment system.
Presenter says:
When you are ready, access the URL on this screen or access the quiz via the App and start answering questions.
You will enter as a student – this does not require a log in – and you will use the “room” number that is here on the Board.
This is a rating of your individual knowledge and/or skill.
This quiz is anonymous and intended to help our training team know where your collective strengths and weaknesses lie so that we can better customize this session to meet your needs.
Let’s take 5 minutes to go through this quiz.

21. Review Data from Activity
Where do our participants report strong knowledge?
In what areas do we have room for improvement?
Other thoughts?
5 minutes Running Time = 42 minutes
Slide(s) Intent: To review the data from the Socrative quiz and ask the teams to reflect.
Presenter says:
(Presenter toggle to the Socrative quiz results screen and quickly shows the results to the group.)
Now I’d like to have you spend about 1 minute with your team to review the results on the screen and answer the questions on this slide.
(Bring group back together after 1 minute).
I’m going to ask 1-3 tables to share one observation from looking at the data.
(Popcorn around the room to 1-3 tables for a unique observation.)
Now take 1 more minute to share with your team about one area where you would like to learn more.
These quiz questions are also on a handout in the back of the Overview section of your training materials for your use locally in trainings that you might hold for school sites, or others.
This is the end of our first segment, now [team member] is going to talk about summative assessments.