STAR Help
Term and Score Explanations
Total Enrollment on First Day of Testing (Top of Report)
Schools were required to submit a California Standards Test (CST) or California
Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA) answer document for
every student enrolled on the first day of testing whether or not the student
was tested. The Total Enrollment on First Day of Testing is the number of
answer documents submitted for the school, district, county, or the state.
Total Number Tested (Top of Report)
This is the number of students who responded to any questions on the CSTs, the
CAT/6 Survey, or the California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA).
Total Number Tested in Selected Subgroup (Top of Report)
This is the number of students in the subgroup selected by the reviewer who
responded to any questions on the CSTs, the California Achievement Tests,
Sixth Edition Survey (CAT/6 Survey), or the CAPA.
Reported Enrollment
The number of CST or CAPA answer documents submitted for students who were
enrolled on the first day of testing whether or not the students were tested.
The number of answer documents submitted by each school were added to produce
the enrollment for each district, county, and the state.
Students Tested
This is the number of students with valid test scores for the subject area
reported. This number is used for calculating the average scores reported.
California Standards Tests (CSTs)
% of Enrollment
Schools submitted student information for every student enrolled on the first
day the CSTs were administered. The percentage of enrollment is
the number of students with valid test scores divided by the number of students
enrolled on the first day of testing. In some instances the percentage may
exceed 100% due to students who enrolled in a school after the first day of
testing and were tested. The % of Enrollment is not reported in the
End-of-Course (EOC) summary column for course/discipline-specific tests.
Mean Scale Score for CSTs
This is the arithmetic mean or average of the scale scores for all students
who took content-specific CSTs without modifications for whom no adult testing
irregularities were reported. The scale scores for each grade and subject area
range between 150 (low) to 600 (high). Scale scores are used to equate the
CSTs from year to year and to determine the performance levels. Half of the CST
questions are changed from year to year, and scale scores are used to adjust
for any differences in the difficulty levels of the tests that result from this
question replacement. While the average number of questions answered correctly
should not be compared from year to year, scale scores and the percentage of
students scoring at each performance level may be compared within each grade
and subject area.
% (of Students Who Scored at Each) Performance Level
California uses five performance levels to report student achievement on the
CSTs:
-
Advanced
performance in relation to the content standards tested
-
Proficient
performance in relation to the content standards tested
-
Basic
performance in relation to the content standards tested
-
Below Basic
performance in relation to the content standards tested
-
Far Below Basic performance in relation to the content standards tested
The percentage of students that scored at each performance level on the CSTs
for English-language arts, mathematics, science, and history-social science are
reported for schools, districts, counties, and the state. At grades two, three,
five, six, and eight through eleven, the performance levels are based only on
multiple-choice questions. The grades four and seven California English-Language
Arts Standards Tests have 75 multiple-choice questions and an 8-point writing
component. Scale scores and performance levels generally are based on the 83
points possible for these tests. If grade four and seven students have a score
only for the multiple-choice questions, the scale score and performance level
are based on the multiple-choice score.
The performance levels for each grade and subject area are based on scale
scores that range between 150 and 600. The score dividing the basic scores from
below basic is 300 for every grade and subject area. The score dividing basic
scores from proficient scores is 350 for every grade and subject area. Tables
that include the score range for each grade level, subject area, and
performance level are available at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sr/resources.asp.
The target is for all California students to score at proficient or above.
EOC (End-of-Course)
The CST mathematics tests for grades eight though eleven and the CST science
tests for grades nine through eleven are aligned with the courses the students
completed or will complete by the end of the school year. The EOC column
summarizes the results for all students within the school, district, county, or
the state who took each course/discipline specific test.
California Achievement Tests, Sixth Edition Survey (CAT/6 Survey) for
Grades 3 and 7
National Percentile Rank (NPR)
A percentile rank is the percentage of scale scores for students in a national
sample of students, in the same grade, tested at a comparable time of the
school year, that fall below the scale score for the student. This national
sample is referred to as the norm group or norming sample. For example, if a
student’s scale score converts to the 60th NPR on the CAT/6 Survey Reading
Test, this means that the student scored as well as or better than 60 percent
of the students in the national sample (norm group). The students in the CAT/6
Survey norming sample were tested during spring 2000.
NPR for "Average" Student Score
There is no provision for producing CAT/6 Survey school, district, or state
percentile ranks, and the percentile ranks of individual students cannot be
averaged to produce a group NPR. Since NPRs cannot be averaged, the normal curve equivalent (NCE)
scores for the individual students are averaged. This NCE score for the
“average” student is then used to look up the corresponding NPR. The NPR is
attributed to a hypothetical "average" student because the NCE score may not
equal a score actually received by any student in the group.
% Scoring Above the 75th NPR, % Scoring At or Above the 50th NPR, and % Scoring
Above the 25th NPR
These scores correspond to the percentage of students in the school, district,
county, or state with scores corresponding to those of students in the top
quarter of the 2000 national sample (above 75th NPR), in the top half of the
2000 national sample (at or above the 50th NPR), and in the top three-quarters
of the 2000 national sample (above the 25th NPR). The percentage of students
scoring above each level is calculated by counting the number of students with
scores above a particular NPR (76th NPR and higher) and dividing by the total
number of students tested. Note that the percentage of students scoring at or
above the 50th NPR is a subset of students scoring above the 25th NPR, and the
percentage of students scoring above the 75th NPR is a subset of the group
scoring at or above the 50th NPR. The percentage of students scoring at or
above the 50th NPR is sometimes referred to as the percentage of students
scoring at or above grade level. To obtain the percentage of students in the
school, district, county, or state that had scores in the lowest quarter of the
national sample, subtract the percent scoring above the 25th NPR from 100.
Mean Scale Score
A table provided by the test publisher is used to convert the number of
questions each student answered correctly to a scale score. The CAT/6 Survey
uses a scale from 0 to 999 that begins in kindergarten and goes through grade
twelve. Scale scores are useful for reporting changes over time. The CAT/6
Survey provides results in terms of scale scores for individual students and
mean or average scale scores for groups of students. CAT/6 Survey scale scores
cannot be compared with the scale scores for the CSTs and should not be used
to compare two different subject areas, such as reading and mathematics, within
the CAT/6 Survey.
Scale scores for individual students or groups of students within each subject
area should increase each year on the CAT/6 Survey because the tests use a
continuous scale from the lowest to the highest grade levels of the tests. The
CST scale scores may not increase from year to year because each grade and
subject area is scaled independently rather than using a continuous scale from
the lowest to the highest grade.
California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA)
Total Number Tested in CAPA
This is the number of students across all grades and CAPA levels who were
assessed with the CAPA.
Percent Tested
This is the number of students assessed with the CAPA divided by the total
number of students tested with the CSTs-CAT/6 Survey and CAPA multiplied by
100.
CAPA Level
There are five CAPA Levels: Level I is for the students between the ages of
seven and sixteen with the most profound disabilities, Level II is for students
in grades two and three, Level III is for students in grades four and five,
Level IV is for students in grades six through eight, and Level V is for
students in grades nine through eleven.
Mean Scale Score
This is the arithmetic mean or average of the scale scores for all students
who took the CAPA at this grade (state results) or at this CAPA level (school,
district, and county results). The scale scores for each grade, subject area,
and CAPA level range between 15 (low) to 60 (high). Like the CSTs, scale
scores are used to equate the CAPA from year to year and to determine the
performance levels. Half of the CAPA tasks are changed from year to year, and
scale scores are used to adjust for any differences in the difficulty levels
of the assessments that result from this task replacement. While the average
number of questions answered correctly should not be compared from year to
year, scale scores and performance levels may be compared within each CAPA
level and subject area.
% (of Students Who Scored at Each) CAPA Performance Level
Like the CSTs, CAPA uses five performance levels: advanced, proficient, basic,
below basic, and far below basic. The performance levels for each CAPA level
and subject area are based on scale scores that range between 15 and 60. The
score dividing the basic scores from below basic is 30 for every CAPA level and
subject area. The score dividing basic scores from proficient scores is 35 for
every CAPA level and subject area. Tables that include the score range for each
CAPA level, subject area, and performance level are available at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sr/resources.asp.
The target is for all California students to score at proficient or above.
Aprenda 3
N
The number of students tested for each grade and subject area.
RPR for “Avg.” Student Score
RPR is a reference group percentile rank that is similar to the national percentiles used for the CAT/6 Survey. Where the CAT/6 Survey compares student achievement to a sample of students selected to represent the nation as a whole, the reference group used for the Aprenda 3 was selected to represent Spanish-speaking students in bilingual classes in the United States. The RPR of the "AVG" student estimates the individual percentile rank for a hypothetical average student in this group. (See CAT/6 Survey NPR for “Average” Student Score.)
% Scoring Above 75th RP, % Scoring Above 50th RP, and % Scoring Above 25th RP
These scores correspond to the percentage of students in the school, district, county, or state with scores corresponding to those of students in the top quarter of the 2004 reference group sample (above 75th RP), in the top half of the 2004 reference group sample (above the 50th RP), and in the top three-quarters of the 2004 reference group sample (above the 25th RP). The percentage of students scoring above each level is calculated by counting the number of students with scores above a particular RP (76th RP and higher) and dividing by the total number of students tested. Note that the percentage of students scoring above the 50th RP is a subset of students scoring above the 25th RP, and the percentage of students scoring above the 75th RP is a subset of the group scoring above the 50th RP. To obtain the percentage of students in the school, district, county, or state that had scores in the lowest quarter of the reference group sample, subtract the percent scoring above the 25th RP from 100.
|
