San Ramon Valley

California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) is California’s statewide student assessment system. Results of these assessments inform parents and educators on their students' continual progress for each grade level and college and career readiness. This data is critical in helping SRVUSD make informed decisions regarding all aspects of academic programs.

Screening assessments are brief, systematic evaluations that provide a “snapshot” of performance to identify areas of strength and potential need. In SRVUSD, students participate in these assessments three times each year—at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year—in the areas of Math and English Language Arts. The results give teachers valuable information to better understand student strengths and challenges, allowing them to adjust instruction accordingly. Combined with report cards and classroom assignments, they contribute to a more complete picture of student learning and growth.

 

DIBELS® (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) is a set of measures used to assess the development of early literacy and reading skills. These assessments are designed to detect risk early and monitor growth over time.

 

In SRVUSD, DIBELS is administered three times a year—beginning, middle, and end—to students in grades K–5. The results provide teachers with timely information about each student’s progress in foundational literacy skills. Teachers use this data to identify strengths, pinpoint areas that may need additional support, and adjust instruction to meet student needs. In addition, DIBELS results help grade-level teams and schools evaluate overall progress toward key instructional goals.

 

DIBELS assessments are scored by comparing individual student subtest and composite scores to criterion-referenced benchmark goals for their specific grade and time of year. Scores are color-coded—Green, Yellow, and Red—to indicate performance categories: At or Above Benchmark, Below Benchmark/Strategic, and Well Below Benchmark/Intensive. These categories help predict a student’s likelihood of future reading success.

 

A DIBELS Composite Score combines multiple subtest scores to provide an overall measure of reading proficiency, giving teachers a comprehensive view of each student’s literacy development and areas that may need additional support.

 

 

 

In SRVUSD, students take Star Reading in grades 6–11 and Star Math in grades 1–5, as well as in Course 1, Course 2, and Course 3 in middle school. These assessments are given three times a year to provide timely information about student achievement and growth.

 

Star Assessments are computer-adaptive tests (CATs) created by Renaissance Learning. Computer-adaptive tests adjust in real time to each student’s responses. If a student answers a question correctly, the test becomes more challenging; if a student answers incorrectly, the test adjusts to an easier level. This process quickly identifies a student’s instructional level while avoiding unnecessary frustration with overly difficult questions or disengagement with questions that are too simple.

 

For more details, view sample test items for Star Reading and Star Math.

 

Star Assessments measure student proficiency using a scaled score (SS), which is calculated based on the difficulty of the questions and the number of correct responses. Scaled scores range from 0–1400 and provide a consistent way to track student performance over time and across grade levels. These scores help teachers monitor growth, identify areas where additional support may be needed, and adjust instruction to ensure all students continue making progress.

 

Star Assessments also report a Percentile Rank (PR), which ranges from 1–99 and compares a student’s performance to other students in the same grade nationwide. For example, a student with a percentile rank of 37 performed as well as or better than 37 percent of students in the same grade across the country. Percentile ranks help teachers and families understand how a student’s achievement compares to peers while monitoring growth over time.

 

 

Our community can explore district & site level data on the State of California’s Smarter Balanced website, by entering our District’s name and/or the name of the school where your student is enrolled. This data helps guide our work with students alongside other assessments and screeners. SRVUSD administers screeners to all students in grades K-12 three times per year (fall, winter, and spring). This is in addition to classroom-specific assessments that all teachers administer. Screeners offer data throughout the school year in order to provide the appropriate just-in-time support our students need in order to thrive academically.

 

The Early Assessment Program (EAP) uses the grade 11 Smarter Balanced summative assessments in English Language Arts and math to identify students who are ready for college-level credit-bearing English and math courses. In alignment with Board Policy/Administrative Regulation 6162.51, CAASPP scores are not included on student transcripts. Students may opt in to voluntarily send their CAASPP scores by checking a box during the actual administration of the test, as noted below. Grade 11 students may choose to release their test results to the California State University (CSU) and participating California Community Colleges (CCC) at the end of the online tests.

 

SRVUSD respects the fact that state summative testing can provoke anxiety in a small portion of our population.  For this reason, Pursuant to California Education Code 60615, parents/guardians may submit to the school a written request to excuse their child from any or all parts of CAASPP.  Students who opt out of the grade 11 CAASPP do not qualify for the State Seal of Biliteracy (SSB) (EC 51461(a)2).

 

 

The California Dashboard can be viewed by linking to the CDE Dashboard Website.  Further information regarding this year's Dashboard data is available in the California Dashboard Communications Toolkit.

Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) - CogAaT is used to initially identify students who are eligible for the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) designation. This test consists of three batteries, which measure verbal, quantitative and nonverbal abilities. For more information on GATE Testing.

SRVUSD typically offers a single testing day to accommodate the SAT, PSAT, and ACT.  The dates are published the first week of school to all High School communities.

 

 

Requests for assessments of preschool age children are handled by the Special Education Department. Please call 925-552-5004 if you would like to speak with someone regarding this type of evaluation or assessment.

• National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 
• For International Student Assessment (PISA)
• International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
• International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 

DataQuest is the California Department of Education’s web-based data reporting system for publicly reporting information about California students, teachers, and schools. DataQuest provides access to a wide variety of reports, including school performance, test results, student enrollment, English learner, graduation and dropout, school staffing, course enrollment, and student misconduct data.