Preparing for the CAASPP math test

What the CAASPP math test is

CAASPP stands for the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress. Its math and English language arts tests are the Smarter Balanced assessments, given each spring in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11. Science is tested separately on the California Science Test, called CAST, in grades 5 and 8 and once in high school.

The math test is taken on a computer and has two parts. The first is computer adaptive: the questions get somewhat harder or easier depending on how your child is doing, so two students may see different questions. The second is a performance task, a set of connected questions built around one real-world situation, where students solve several steps and explain their reasoning.

The test is based on the California Common Core State Standards for Mathematics for your child's grade, so it covers the same content as the class. In grade 11 it reflects the high school standards.

The score report groups math results into three broad areas:

• Concepts and procedures: knowing grade-level facts and methods and using them accurately.
• Problem solving and modeling and data analysis: using math to work through unfamiliar problems and real situations.
• Communicating reasoning: explaining why an answer is right and spotting the flaw in someone else's reasoning.

What the questions look like

Many children are surprised that the test is not all multiple choice. Questions can ask your child to select more than one correct answer, type a number or an expression into a box, drag items into a table, plot points on a graph, or write a short explanation. In the upper grades, some questions include an on-screen calculator and some do not, so working without a calculator still matters.

Explanation questions are where many students lose points they could have earned. They often know the answer but write only a number, or write "because I did the math." A good explanation names the numbers, says what was done with them, and connects that to the question.

A worked example in the style of the test

This problem is written in the style of a grade 7 question about percents; it is not a real test item. A jacket costs $80.

It is on sale for 25% off, and then sales tax of 7.25% is added to the sale price. What does the jacket cost, and how do you know?

A common mistake is to subtract the percents first, 25% minus 7.25%, and take 17.75% off $80, which gives $65.80. That does not work because the tax is a percent of the sale price, not of the original price. Asking "7.25% of what?" is the kind of reasoning the explanation questions are looking for.

A strong written answer would be: the discount is 25% of $80, which is $20, so the sale price is $60. The tax is 7.25% of $60, which is $4.35.

The total is $60 plus $4.35, or $64.35. That answer makes sense because it is a little more than the $60 sale price and well below $80.

How to prepare across the year

A last-minute cram does much less than steady habits. These help most when they happen through the year:

• Keep up with homework and classwork; the test covers the same grade-level standards.
• Work on gaps from earlier grades early, since later topics build on them. Fractions, for example, show up again in ratios, percents, and algebra.
• Ask your child to explain answers out loud or in a sentence, not only to get the number.
• Try the free official practice and training tests on the CAASPP website a few times in the weeks before the test, so the format and tools are familiar.
• Practice reading word problems slowly and underlining what is being asked.
• Build the habit of checking: does the answer make sense, and does it answer the question that was asked?

The week of the test

• Keep routines normal, with good sleep and breakfast.
• Remind your child that it is fine to see hard questions; the adaptive part is meant to find the edge of what they know.
• Encourage them to use scratch paper, give a hard question their best try, and use the test's flag tool to mark it for another look before they finish.
• Talk about it as one way the school checks how things are going, not as a judgment of your child.

Reading the score report

Results come as a scale score and one of four achievement levels: Standard Exceeded, Standard Met, Standard Nearly Met, and Standard Not Met. The report also shows how your child did in the broad areas above, which can point to where to focus next. California's Starting Smarter website explains the reports and links to practice resources.

Treat the score as one snapshot alongside report cards, classwork, and what the teacher sees every day. If the results surprise you, ask the teacher what they notice and what to work on.