Here’s Why You Should Care About the CAASPP

Seniors, remember taking the CAASPP test last year: the long, boring, not to mention hard computer-centric assessments we took in the spring? It was a test we took little heed of because, hey, AP testing was over, and those are the tests that really matter when applying to college after all. Well... we were wrong.

Emma Heidt is a freshman at DVC this year who opted out of the CAASPP her junior year. “I personally felt like there wasn’t enough incentive for me to take it. I felt like I could use my brain for something more beneficial to me…. Especially when you feel like it isn’t going to affect your personal academic career whatsoever,” said Heidt.

Like Heidt, many students didn’t care about the test and as a result didn’t try when taking it or didn’t even take it, but here’s why they should’ve:

CAASPP scores affect any student applying to any college and have huge significance if a student is planning on attending DVC or a CSU.

English teacher Jamie Greer, who is new to Las Lomas this year, was previously an instructional coach at College Park High School and previous to that a department head at Burlingame High School. As both a department head and an instructional coach it was her job to make sure everyone was aware of the new Common Core standards that students would be tested on in the CAASPP. She then had to implement lesson plans and school wide messaging explaining what the CAASPP test meant.

“Traditionally no matter what school you’re at, people who are going to DVC believe that ‘Oh I don’t have to take these tests, I just graduate and show up,’ but that’s not the case,” said Greer. “The CAASPP counts for DVC placement in freshman level English and appropriate math placement, and if you don’t place well on the CAASPP or the SAT and ACT, you are going to be taking remedial classes that don’t count for a degree.”

These remedial classes not only don’t count and cost a lot of money, but don’t look good on a student’s transcript if he or she wants to eventually transfer from DVC to a UC. In addition, if a student just scored poorly on the CAASPP because they didn’t try, these classes are likely going to be very easy for the student and a waste of his or her time and money.

If a student scores well on the CAASPP and is planning on going to DVC not only can that student opt out of the remedial English and math courses, but the student can also opt out of the English and math assessments for incoming Freshmen if they receive “Standard Exceeded” on the CAASPP.

If a student is going to a CSU but didn’t score well enough on the CAASPP or SAT/ACT as indicated in the Your Pathway to College Readiness CSU chart, he or she will need to participate in the CSU Early Start Program over the summer.

“So, it’s all about placement so that you can hit the ground running to graduate from college,” said Greer.

However, CAASPP scores don’t just affect the students going to DVC or a CSU, but any student applying to any four year college or university.

“If you are going to a school with low test scores, when you go to apply to college, that’s going to work against you,” said Greer. “You want to come from someplace with the best test scores.”

When a college reviews a student’s application it will look at your school’s ranking which is determined by its standardized test scores.

“If your school scores are really high and you have a high GPA then it’s like ‘Wow that school is really good and that GPA must be really valuable’,” said Las Lomas English teacher and instructional coach Emelie Gunnison. “But if the scores of the school are low and you have a high GPA then it takes away from the value of your GPA.”

For example, though a student from Las Lomas and a student from Acalanes might have the same GPA, because Acalanes has higher CAASPP scores the school could be viewed as more academically rigorous, and therefore, the Acalanes student’s GPA might be viewed as more valuable in the eyes of a college admissions officers.

“My advice to any kid would be why not leave every door open... why close something because you didn’t want to take a test seriously,” said Las Lomas principal Tiffany Benson.

The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System was established on Jan. 1, 2014, which replaced the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program which became inoperative on July 1, 2013. The CAASPP System includes the online Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments of English language arts/literacy (ELA) and mathematics for juniors and the paper-pencil 60 multiple choice question CST for Life Science assessment for sophomores that covers middle school life science and high school biology content standards. According to the California Board of Education these assessments are meant to measure “progress toward college and career readiness”.

Here at Las Lomas, CAASPP scores have been steadily declining. In 2015 the average score on the English assessment was 2669.4, in 2016 it was 2634.3, and in 2017 it was 2633.1. In 2015 the average score on the Math assessment was 2657.6, in 2016 it was 2630.1, and in 2017 it was 2625.5.

Greer believes the scores have declined here at Las Lomas for a few reasons.

Number one is the CAASPP is based on Common Core standards, and so, it is a difficult test for students who weren’t raised with Common Core.

Number two is that the test is hard not just content wise but structurally.

“When I taught AP lit there were some students who could rock the AP exam, but they couldn’t rock that CAASPP score because it’s just a different test,” said Greer.

The test is different in that it is on a computer -- a way of testing many are unfamiliar with -- and it requires students to use drop boxes to type in long answers. There is also a listening and speaking component that Greer has noticed students at all schools across the board have scored low on because it is something they never get to practice.

However, both Greer and Gunnison believe test scores have also declined due to a lag in communication.

“Traditionally we’ve struggled to inform people about the significance and relevance of the test,” said Gunnison, and as a result a “worryingly high” number of students have opted out of the test in the past. In 2016 46 students opted out and last year five students opted out.

“If you message it to the students that yes it counts and this is why it counts, your scores are going to go up,” said Greer.

Unfortunately, for the class of 2018, last year’s juniors, there seemed to not be enough messaging and there was a decline in scores with about 30% of students not meeting standards for the English assessment and 48% of students not meeting standards for the Math assessment.

Not only do declining CAASPP scores affect college acceptance and admission, but the community as well.

Higher test scores almost always correlate with higher property values because parents want to raise their kids in the communities with the best schools and typically the easiest and only way for families to gauge which are the “best” schools is to go online and look at the school’s standardized test scores.

“There is a direct correlation between how good the local schools test results are and where people want to live. For a family that seems to be the number one reason. The better the school the higher the property values in the neighborhoods serving that school,” said Ellen Anderson, Senior VP Regional Executive of Contra Costa for Pacific Union International Real Estate.

“These tests are so high stakes that I’m surprised that in this area we don’t have community members coming on campus during testing,” said Greer. “At my previous school down in Aragon we’d have realtors bringing muffins to the 11th graders. You’d have an insurance person that would come and hand out pens because those people wanted to preserve the prestige of that area, and so they would be just loving the children that week... It was a really big deal.”

One of the main reasons it is so hard for a family to find a house in Walnut Creek is due to the strength of the schools in the area.

“For the better school districts, where demand for a home is high, housing availability will be tight, and due to the theory of supply and demand, prices will be driven up. Should school scores drop for some reason, consistently for a year or two, you may see families selling to move to a better school district,” said Anderson. “That would mean more homes on the market, more supply for buyers and therefore, prices will not continue up, and may even decline. That would also have an impact on businesses and their profit if clients leave the area.”

“I thought it was a joke; It doesn’t really impact your school career,” said junior Haley Shon who will be taking the CAASPP this year.

The CAASPP is going to be messaged in new and improved ways this year to make sure juniors like Shon are well aware of what the test is and what the test means.

“One of the things we are going to try and do this year is sort of rebrand the test and go to juniors and say, ‘Hey guys let me tell you why you should take this seriously’, show them some example questions, practice it... It’s not an easy test,” said Greer. Teachers are also considering running academy sessions to get this practice in come springtime.

Departments on campus have also already started giving interim tests so students get more exposure to the test and there was also a session for parents at open house on Feb. 1 regarding the CAASPP.

Teachers want to encourage their students to do well on the CAASPP because it is very hard on a school when students opt out of the test or don’t try their best. When students do opt out or don’t try, it doesn’t provide the school with an authentic assessment of how their students are doing on the large scale, so it is hard to access which standards and areas of study teachers need to focus on. The CAASPP results are very sophisticated and allow teachers to see which individual questions students get wrong, so if students don’t try lesson plans could potentially be wasted on easy information. Furthermore lower test scores lead to a lower school ranking which affects a school’s reputation and could lead to all sorts of problems such as less school funding.

“I’d really like to see our scores turn around…..I think we’re doing amazing work in the classrooms, and I think the test isn’t reflecting that,” said Benson.

“Now looking back on it though, I should have thought about it more and stopped being such a self absorbed teenager and taken the test,” said Heidt. “The test is there to assess the students and the school so they can pinpoint what can be done to improve their students’ education for the better. It’s there to help the teachers and other authority figures get a better understanding for their kids.”

So though juniors will “be AP’d out and tested out” by the time the CAASPP roles around, it is important that they take the time to do well on the test -- a test that unlike the AP tests and SAT-- is free and is during the school week but is worth just as much.

“This is your contribution to the school, some millionaire might give $25,000 to their alma mater. This is your $25,000 donation; your IQ points,” said Greer. Make every penny count.