Junior state testing: cancelled

By Megan Suchet, Copy Editor

On Apr. 14, SMMUSD announced that the state testing juniors were set to take Apr. 15 and Apr. 16 was cancelled.

The federal government recently left it up to school districts to determine whether the traditional end-of-the-year summative assessment or an alternative method of testing would be most practical and beneficial during these unprecedented times. Time constraints, coupled with the numerous adjustments to teaching and learning modalities as SMMUSD begins in-person instruction, have led the district to take advantage of the state’s authorized flexibility and forgo the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) this year. While LAUSD will continue traditional state testing, SMMUSD will instead implement local measures that will provide similar academic information regarding students’ grade-level literacy and numeracy skills. Samo junior Nicole Barikhan (’22) is grateful for this decision.

“I think it was a great idea. It relieves so many students from that additional stress that comes with taking the CAASPP. Plus, it gives teachers more time to teach with the already condensed time schedule, especially beneficial in AP classes,” Barikhan said.

The K-12 comprehensive assessment will be in the form of the Renaissance Star Reading Assessment, which will provide insights needed to guide literacy growth for emergent readers, struggling readers and high achievers, whether the student is being tested in-person, remotely or a combination of both. This assessment is computer adaptive, adjusting with each answer. It would simultaneously provide the necessary information to inform staff of student’s progress in the shortest amount of testing time (about one-third of the time other tests take). The test is also said to be predictive of a student's ability to perform on the state CAASPP as well as other standardized assessments, such as the SAT and ACT. Renaissance Star Reading is a company that provides comprehensive reading assessments that give information needed to ensure students reach high levels of literacy. In the area of mathematics, the CSU/UC Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project (MDTP) assessment will be taking the place of typical CAASPP, producing the same level of information as Star Renaissance, with a focus on math skills.