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An Analysis of the California Standards Test (CST):
English-Language Arts 2013

On the Beach:
Christina Canavan, Michael Stewart, Michelle Stuyt, Griselle Arrieta-Rose
IST 622
July 8, 2014
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Table of Contents
What is being measured? """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" #
What do the scores mean? """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" $
How are the data you chose to describe used in the work or school environment? """" %
What questions do you have about the quality of the data and the appropriateness
of their use? """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" &
REFERENCES """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ''
APPENDIX """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" '#
















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What is being measured?
The California Standards Test (CST) is an annual standardized assessment
provided by the California State of Education as part of the Standardized Testing and
Reporting (STAR) Program. The tests were created in 1999 after California passed the
Public Schools Accountability Act as a way for schools and districts to be held
accountable for student achievement (Ed-Data, 2014). In 2013, approximately 4.7
million students in grades two through eleven completed the CSTs in English Language
Arts and Mathematics (CDE, 2013). The CST in Science is based on grade level and is
administered to students in grades 5, 8, and 10. The CST in History/Social Science is a
cumulative assessment given to students in grades 8 and 11. The CSTs are criterion-
referenced tests which measure a students knowledge of the California State Standards.
There are five performance levels used for the purpose of reporting: advanced, proficient,
basic, below basic, and far below basic:
! Advanced This category represents a superior performance. Students
demonstrate a comprehensive and complex understanding of the knowledge and
skills measured by this assessment, at this grade, in this content area.
! Proficient This category represents a solid performance. Students demonstrate
a competent and adequate understanding of the knowledge and skills measured by
this assessment, at this grade, in this content area.
! Basic This category represents a limited performance. Students demonstrate a
partial and rudimentary understanding of the knowledge and skills measured by
this assessment, at this grade, in this content area.
! Far Below/Below Basic This category represents a serious lack of
performance. Students demonstrate little or flawed understanding of the
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knowledge and skills measured by this assessment, at this grade, in this content
area.
According to the California State Board of Education (2013), students must attain
a level of proficient in order to demonstrate competency in the knowledge and skills at
their particular grade level (CDE, 2013). Furthermore, this goal meets both the state
accountability target growth and requirements mandated by the Federal Elementary and
Secondary Education Act (CDE, 2013). The ELA CST measures competency in five
strands, including word analysis, reading comprehension, literary response/analysis,
writing strategies, and writing conventions. The test consists of approximately seventy-
five multiple-choice questions and is administered over a two-day period. The test also
provides eight additional points in grade seven. In 2013, the state assembly suspended the
STAR-testing program to allow schools to prepare for the new online testing system,
Smarter Balanced, which is aligned with the new Common Core State Standards.
California students did not participate in statewide standardized testing in 2014 and will
begin testing under the new online Smarter Balanced in 2015.
What do the scores mean?
The measurement instrument for this analysis is the 2013 California Standards
Test (CST) in English Language Arts for grade eight. The CST exam is scored using a
scaled score range for each grade level. The scaled score ranges from 150 (low) to 600
(high) (Figure 1). California also uses a percentile, which measures the percent of
students that scored at each of the five performance levels (Figure 2). The target in
California is for every student to achieve a level of at least proficient or advanced.
According to the California Department of Education (2013), the construction of the CST
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exam utilizes the psychometric procedure of equating in order to correctly adjust the test
difficulty each year. Moreover, the STAR Program assigns student performance levels
according to scale scores. A scale score is a consistent measure across test form even if
the test difficulty is varies (CDE, 2013). Therefore, scale scores provide a common
reference across time. Each year, the California Department of Education utilizes a
standard protocol to determine the students scaled scores as well as the overall
percentages of students at each category.
Grade Far Below
Basic
Below Basic Basic Proficient Advanced
8 150-265 266-299 300-349 350-394 395-600
Figure 1: Scaled CST Scores for CST in English-Language Arts (Source: California
Department of Education)


Figure 2: Percentage scores for CST in English-Language Arts for Santa Cruz County
(Source: California Department of Education)



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Figure 3: Percentage scores for CST in English-Language Arts for New Brighton Middle
School (Source: California Department of Education)

Student scores obtained from New Brighton Middle School and Santa Cruz
County from the Department of Education are shown in figures 2 and 3. The comparison
of eighth graders at New Brighton Middle School to Santa Cruz County indicates 72% of
students scored at proficient and above at New Brighton Middle School compared to only
58% of students scoring proficient and above county-wide (Figure 4). In addition, there
were 19% at basic at New Brighton compared to 27% in the county.







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(Figure 4: Percentages of each performance level at New Brighton and Santa Cruz
County)
How are the data you chose to describe used in the work or school environment?
The CST scores are reported to schools, districts, counties, and states as an
accountability measure based on student achievement. The scores are reported for all
students and separated for statistical purposes into subgroups, including gender, ethnicity,
language classification, etc. (Ed Data, 2014). Individual student scores are not publicly
reported, yet parents, teachers, and districts have access to them through the districts
online system. The scores are used for grade-to-grade comparisons of proficiency levels
of students. For example, if a district decided to compare proficiency levels of third
graders over a two-year period, they would use the mean score for the entire grade for
both years. They would then compare the two mean scores and look at the difference. A
positive growth indicates more students are demonstrating proficiency. Schools do not
want to show negative growth. The scores are also used as an indicator for student
placement in intervention programs. Teachers closely monitor students achieving at basic
or below and appropriate intervention classes are provided to the students.
Furthermore, the CST scores have a significant impact on schools because they
help determine a schools Academic Performance Index (API) (Great Schools, 2012).
The API is an accountability rating given by the State of California to every public school.
Schools that do not perform well on the CSTs will receive a low API rating and may be
considered as underperforming institutions. Although underperforming schools receive
additional state funding to help improve student achievement, schools that continuously
show limited growth may be subject to local and state sanctions (Great Schools, 2012).
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High-performing schools have the possibility of being recognized by receiving the honor
of a California Distinguished School.

What are the consequences (or significance) of their use (outcomes)?
The California Standards Test results are significant on several levels. The
outcomes are interpreted as an annual standardized assessment provided by the California
State of Education. Therefore, results are significant at the state level. Outcomes are
equally as significant on the student, school, and district levels.
The STAR Program as a whole is a measurement of how well the California
education system and its students are performing (Standardized Testing and Reporting -
STAR, 2009). Standardized testing allows for a consistent comparison of students across
schools, districts, and even states. Without standardized testing this comparison would
not be possible. The testing allows for a more accurate comparison between states.
For the student, reflection upon the CST score is an opportunity to understand
their performance, and an opportunity for parents to understand their childs academic
performance. Furthermore, CST scores may be beneficial for identifying the areas where
additional help is needed (Standardized Testing and Reporting - STAR, 2009). Ultimately,
students and their parents can compare individual academic abilities against grade-level
requirements and the results of other students in that grade.
At the school and district level, teachers, parents, and education officials make an
impact. The goal of the assessment is to analyze the results to identify strengths and
weaknesses in order to improve student learning. Thus, if the students perform poorly,
teachers, parents, and education officials are perceived as not thoroughly doing their job;
therefore, goals are not met. The greatest benefit of standardized testing is that teachers
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and schools are held accountable for teaching students what they are required to know.
As noted, the information is crucial for understanding what students need to learn to meet
state standards as well as the areas of the program that need improvement. With this
identified information, educators can make informed decisions on curricula, teaching
methods, and budget allocations.
In sum, the goal in the state of California is to have all students perform at the
proficient or advanced level. Having this said, the potential consequences of the
California Standards Test is significant in terms of the impact it has on the student, up to
the state level.
What questions do you have about the quality of the data and the appropriateness
of their use?
When looking at the California Standards Test from a distance, the validity of the
data becomes questionable. The strongest argument that can be made against CST is not
every student is created equally so it is difficult to assess him or her accordingly.
Teachers, parents and education officials all use the results of The California Standards
Test (CST) to identify strengths and weaknesses in order to improve student learning.
Proponents of the CST say standardized tests are a fair and objective measure of student
achievement that they ensure teachers and schools are accountable to taxpayers, and that
the most relevant constituents parents and students approve of testing.
On the other hand opponents state the tests are neither fair nor objective, that their
use promotes a narrow curriculum and drill-like "teaching to the test," and that excessive
testing undermines America's ability to produce innovators and critical thinkers.
Moreover, the tests are written toward the English language, therefore ESL students may
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skew test scores along with special needs students. They take the same tests as well and
receive few of the accommodations usually provided to them. Along with teaching to
the test, students (especially young ones) experience test-related jitters caused by
anxiety over pressures put on by the CST, therefore affecting the test score outcomes.
In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandated annual testing in all 50
states. Because of the NCLB passage, annual state spending on standardized testing rose
from $423 million to almost $1.1 billion. Even with all the money and research that goes
into teaching, we have to remember that teaching is difficult. The true reward for the
teacher is the knowledge that he or she has impacted a young person's life. Again, not
every student is created equally so it is difficult to assess him or her accordingly.
Therefore, standardized testing has its place, but fails to truly answer the question of is
the concept of what is being taught understood by the learner.








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REFERENCES
CDE (2013). California Department of Education, Standardized Testing and Reporting.
Retrieved on July 8, 2013 from:
http://www.startest.org/pdfs/STAR.post-test_guide.2013.pdf

CST Released Test Questions. (n.d.). CA Dept of Education. Retrieved July 7, 2014,
from http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sr/css05rtq.asp

Standardized Testing and Reporting - STAR. (2009, January 1). About the California
program. Retrieved July 8, 2014, from http://www.starsamplequestions.org/about.html
http://teaching.about.com/od/assess/a/Standardized-Testing.htm

Testing in California: An overview. (n.d.). GreatSchools. Retrieved July 8, 2014, from
http://www.greatschools.org/students/local-facts-resources/426-testing-in-
CA.gs?page=all

Understanding California's Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program. (2014,
March 27). Ed-Data. Retrieved July 8, 2014, from https://www.ed-
data.k12.ca.us/Pages/Understanding-the-STAR.aspx
2004 California STAR Reporting. (n.d.). StarTest. Retrieved June 8, 2014, from
http://www.startest.org/pdfs/posttestguide.pdf

2013 STAR Test Results. (n.d.). California Department of Education. Retrieved July 7,
2014, from http://star.cde.ca.gov/star2013/ViewReport.aspx?ps=true&lstCounty=44&lst
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District=69849&lstSchool=&lstCntyNam=Santa%20Cruz&lstDistNam=Soquel%20Uni
on%20Elementary















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APPENDIX
2013 STAR TEST RESULTS NEW BRIGHTON MIDDLE SCHOOL

2013 STAR TEST RESULTS SANTA CRUZ COUNTY


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Sample 8th Grade CST Questions:











Percentages of each performance level at New Brighton and Santa Cruz County