60603
. As used in this chapter:
(a) "Achievement level descriptors" means a narrative description
of the knowledge, skills, and processes expected of pupils at
different grade levels and at different performance levels on
achievement tests.
(b) "Achievement test" means any summative standardized test that
measures the level of performance that a pupil has achieved on
state-adopted content standards.
(c) "California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress
(CAASPP)" means the comprehensive assessment system, inclusive of
consortium-developed assessments, that has the primary purpose of
modeling and promoting high-quality teaching and instruction using a
variety of assessment approaches and item types.
(d) "Census administration" means a test administration in which
all pupils take comparable assessments of the same content and where
results of individual performance are appropriate and meaningful to
parents, pupils, and teachers.
(e) "Computer-adaptive assessment" means a computer-based test
that utilizes a computer program to adjust the difficulty of test
items throughout a testing session based on a test taker's responses
to previous test items during that testing session.
(f) "Computer-based assessment" means a test administered using an
electronic computing device.
(g) "Consortium" means a multistate collaborative organized to
develop a comprehensive system of assessments or formative tools such
as described in Section 60605.7.
(h) "Constructed-response questions" means a type of assessment
item that requires pupils to construct their own answers.
(i) "Content standards" means the specific academic knowledge,
skills, and abilities that all public schools in this state are
expected to teach, and all pupils are expected to learn, in reading,
writing, mathematics, history-social science, foreign languages,
visual and performing arts, and science, at each grade level tested.
(j) "Diagnostic assessment" means an assessment of particular
knowledge or skills a pupil has or has not yet achieved for the
purpose of informing instruction and making placement decisions.
(k) "End of course examination" means a comprehensive and
challenging assessment of pupil achievement in a particular subject
area or discipline.
(l) "Field test" means an assessment or assessment items
administered to a representative sample of a population to ensure
that the test or item produces results that are valid, reliable, and
fair.
(m) "Formative assessment tools" means assessment tools and
processes that are embedded in instruction and used by teachers and
pupils to provide timely feedback for purposes of adjusting
instruction to improve learning.
(n) "High-quality assessment" means an assessment designed to
measure a pupil's knowledge of, understanding of, and ability to
apply, critical concepts through the use of a variety of item types
and formats, including, but not necessarily limited to, items that
allow for constructed responses and items that require the completion
of performance tasks. A high-quality assessment should have the
following characteristics:
(1) Enable measurement of pupil achievement and pupil growth to
the extent feasible.
(2) Be of high technical quality by being valid, reliable, fair,
and aligned to standards.
(3) Incorporate technology where appropriate.
(4) Include the assessment of pupils with disabilities and English
learners.
(5) Use, to the extent feasible, universal design principles, as
defined in Section 3 of the federal Assistive Technology Act of 1998
(29 U.S.C. Sec. 3002) in its development and administration.
(o) "Interim assessment" means an assessment that is designed to
be given at regular intervals throughout the school year to evaluate
a pupil's knowledge and skills relative to a specific set of academic
standards, and produces results that can be aggregated by course,
grade level, school, or local educational agency in order to inform
teachers and administrators at the pupil, classroom, school, and
local educational agency levels.
(p) "Local educational agency" means a county office of education,
school district, state special school, or direct-funded charter
school as described in Section 47651.
(q) "Matrix sampling" means administering different portions of a
single assessment to different groups of pupils for the purpose of
sampling a broader representation of content and reducing testing
time.
(r) "Performance standards" are standards that define various
levels of competence at each grade level in each of the curriculum
areas for which content standards are established. Performance
standards gauge the degree to which a pupil has met the content
standards and the degree to which a school or school district has met
the content standards.
(s) "Performance tasks" are a collection of questions or
activities that relate to a single scenario that include pupil
interaction with stimulus. Performance tasks are a means to assess
more complex skills such as writing, research, and analysis.
(t) "Personally identifiable information" includes a pupil's name
and other direct personal identifiers, such as the pupil's
identification number. Personally identifiable information also
includes indirect identifiers, such as the pupil's address and
personal characteristics, or other information that would make the
pupil's identity easily traceable through the use of a single or
multiple data sources, including publicly available information.
(u) "Population sampling" means administering assessments to a
representative sample of pupils instead of the entire pupil
population. The sample of pupils shall be representative in terms of
various pupil subgroups, including, but not necessarily limited to,
English learners and pupils with disabilities.
(v) "Recently arrived English learner" means a pupil designated as
an English learner who is in his or her first 12 months of attending
a school in the United States.
(w) "State-determined assessment calendar" means the scheduling of
assessments, exclusive of those subject area assessments listed in
subdivision (b) of Section 60640, over several years on a
predetermined schedule. Content areas and grades shall only be
assessed after being publicly announced at least two school years in
advance of the assessment.
(x) "Summative assessment" means an assessment designed to be
given near the end of the school year to evaluate a pupil's knowledge
and skills relative to a specific set of academic standards.