CA Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP)
For more information about the CAASPP system, please visit the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress resource page.
Parent Guides to Understanding the CA Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP)
The Parent Guides to Understanding are two-page flyers designed to provide clear, easy-to-understand answers to essential questions (what, why, who, how, and when) about California's assessment programs. These guides also offer practical advice for parents on how to support their child's academic success.
The guides cover the following assessments:
- Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments
- California Science Test
- California Alternate Assessments
- California Spanish Assessment (CSA)
- English Language Proficiency Assessment for California (ELPAC)
- Other Important Assessment - Physical Fitness Test
The guides are available in multiple languages on the California Department of Education’s (CDE) Parent Guides to Understanding webpage.
Academic Checkup
A video about the Smarter Balanced assessments produced by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
Understanding Your Child's CAASPP Score Report
The tests your child takes are meant to measure the skills important for college and career readiness. Each score report is designed to help you and your child’s teachers identify where your child is excelling or where they may need further support.
This video will help you and your child understand the Smarter Balance for English language arts/literacy, or ELA, and mathematics; and the California Science Test, or CAST, Student Score Report.
Sample Score reports are available on the California Starting Smarter webpage.
Becoming Familiar with the Test
Practice and Training Tests – This link accesses both the practice and training tests portal. The practice tests provide students with grade-specific testing experiences that are similar in structure and format to the summative assessments. The training tests provide students with the opportunity to quickly become familiar with the software and interface features. The training tests are organized by grade bands (e.g., 3 –5).