Alternate Science California Alternate Assessment (CAA)

Understanding California Alternate Assessment (CAA) for Science Summary Reports

California Alternate Assessment for Science Noteworthy Information

All High School Grade—The grade All High School includes results for all tested high school grade levels (that is, grades ten, eleven, and twelve) from one administration year.
High School Class of [Year] Grade—HS Class of [Year] reports scores for all students in grade twelve who took the CAA for Science in high school, regardless of whether the assessment was completed in grade ten, eleven, or twelve.

Test Results Definitions

Number Enrolled—This is a count of students in the selected entity (that is, state, county, district, school, or student group) who are eligible to take the CAA for Science in grade five, grade eight, and high school (that is, grade ten, eleven, or twelve).

Number Tested—This is a count of students in the selected entity (that is, state, county, district, school, or student group) who were administered the CAA for Science. This number excludes students not tested by parent/guardian request, students not tested because of a significant medical emergency, and students who were assigned to take the assessment, but did not test.

Number of Tests with Valid Scores—This is a count of students tested in the selected entity (that is, state, county, district, school, or student group) who responded to enough questions on the assessment to generate a valid score. Scores that are invalidated are not included in this aggregation.

Mean Scale Score—This is the sum of scale scores for students with valid scores in the selected entity (that is, state, county, district, school, or student group) divided by the Number of Tests with Valid Scores. For more information, please visit the Scale Score Ranges web page.

Note: The percentage of students in the selected entity (that is, state, county, district, school, or student group) at a particular achievement level is the sum of the number of students at a particular achievement level divided by the total number of students across all achievement levels for that entity.

Reporting Achievement Level Descriptors

CAA for Science General Achievement Level Descriptors

CAA for Science General Achievement Level Descriptors
Grade	Understanding (Level 3)	Foundational Understanding (Level 2)	Limited Understanding (Level 1)
5, 8 and high school (i.e., 10, 11, or 12)	Students at this level demonstrate understanding of core subject matter in the content area. They are actively working with adapted grade-level content that focuses on the essential knowledge and skills and may need occasional prompts and assistance to complete tasks and activities.	Students at this level demonstrate foundational understanding of core subject matter in the content area when provided with frequent prompts and supports. They are actively working with adapted grade-level content that focuses on the essential knowledge and skills and may frequently need supports to complete tasks and activities.	Students at this level demonstrate limited understanding of adapted grade level content that focuses on much of the basic knowledge and skills, even with extensive supports.

For more information, please visit the CAA Achievement Level Descriptors web page