2017–18 CAST Training Items Scoring Guide - · PDF fileTraining Items Scoring Guide ... This item requires students to describe how to complete a model that shows ... the Solar System

C A L I F O R N I A Assessment of Student Performance and Progress

California Science Test Training Items Scoring Guide

2017–18 Administration

Posted November 2017Prepared by Educational Testing Service ®

CAASPP System

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Table of Contents Guide Content .........................................................................................................................1

Grade Five Sample Items .......................................................................................................3

Grade Eight Sample Items ................................................................................................... 15

High School Sample Items ................................................................................................... 26

Guide Content

Posted November 2017 2017–18 California Science Test Training Items Scoring Guide 1

Guide Content This California Science Test (CAST) training items scoring guide offers details about the items, student response types, correct responses, and related scoring considerations for the included sample of training items. These items have been selected to show some of the new approaches to measuring the California Next Generation Science Standards (CA NGSS) that can be found in the assessment. The training test items are not fully representative of all possible item types included in the CAST, but additional samples will be provided over time. The sample covers a selection of items from grade five, grade eight, and high school. The various item types are not limited to a particular grade level and could appear for any grade.

The following information is presented along with each item:

• Grade Level: The intended grade level of the item • Performance Expectations (PE) Code: References the assessable evidence

statements of what students should know and be able to do • Science and Engineering Practices (SEP): Descriptions of behaviors that scientists

and engineers engage in as they investigate the natural world and design solutions, respectively

• Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI): Most essential ideas in the major science disciplines that all students should understand during 13 years of school

• Crosscutting Concepts (CCC): Interdisciplinary skills that unify the study of science and engineering through common application across fields

• Depth of Knowledge (DOK): A measure of complexity that considers the student’s cognitive process in response to an item. There are four DOK levels, with 4 being the highest.

• Item-Level Claim Statement (ILCS): A brief statement that illustrates how an item aligns to the PE through at least two of the dimensions. An ILCS is included with each item to help item reviewers (1) identify the intent of the alignment, (2) determine if the alignment is appropriate and valid, and (3) identify the content reflected in item-level specifications.

• Item and stimulus: A representation of the item and any associated stimulus • Answer Key: The expected student response or example response including score

point value • Rubric and sample student response for each score point for short answer items:

Score point representations for student responses

Each item is aligned to a specific PE but may align through an emphasis or focus on the different dimensions of the PE (the SEP, DCI, or CCC). Within each dimension and the overall alignment to the PE, the items may have differing degrees of alignment as well. The training test samples represent some possible degrees of alignment to the three dimensions of the PEs.

The items included also represent a range of cognitive approaches to the assessment of the CA NGSS. However, this sample is not yet fully representative of the full range of item difficulty.

Guide Content

2 2017–18 California Science Test Training Items Scoring Guide Posted November 2017

The sample items will include numbered instructional text preceding each grade level’s section of items as well as introductory text for performance tasks. Following are examples of introductory and instructional text for performance tasks.

The next set of eight items are grade five sample items.

Additional information regarding the California Science Test (CAST) is available on the CDE California Science Test Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/ca/caasppscience.asp.

In this performance task, you will learn about algae blooms in lakes. You will run tests on the water samples collected from rivers. Then you will answer seven questions related to algae blooms.

Each item that follows has a metadata table like the one shown below. The item number in the table preceding each sample item corresponds to the sequence number of the item as it appears in the training test.

Example of Metadata Table:

Item Grade PE SEP DCI CCC DOK

4 5 5-LS2-1 2. Developing and using models

LS2.A Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

4. Systems and system models 2

ILCS: This item requires students to describe how to complete a model that shows the exchange of gases and other matter in a lake habitat.

Grade Five Sample Items


Grade Five Sample Items The following stimulus accompanies grade five items numbered 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 in the training test.







ILCS: This item requires students to describe how to complete a model that shows the exchange of gases and other matter in a lake habitat.

Key: D (1 point)







ILCS: This item requires students to use a model of energy transfer in an ecosystem to describe how matter flows among organisms in a lake.



1 point

Exemplar:

“The pyramid shows that zooplankton eat matter in phytoplankton and algae. Insects eat matter in zooplankton, and fish eat matter in insects.

Rubric:

The student demonstrates full understanding of the Performance Expectation, including that:

• food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants; • organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat the animals that eat

plants; • some organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms and

therefore operate as decomposers; • decomposition eventually restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil; • organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met; • a healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each

able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life; OR • newly introduced species can damage the balance of an ecosystem.

0 points

Exemplar:

“Algae eat fish.” OR student provides off-topic, unclear, or no response.

Rubric:

The student demonstrates little or no understanding of the Performance Expectation.







ILCS: This item requires students to use the model of energy transfer to predict how a change in zooplankton will affect the overall lake ecosystem.

Key: B (1 point)




7 5 5-ESS2-1 2. Developing and using models

ESS2.A Earth Materials and Systems


ILCS: This item requires students to develop a model that sequences how excess nutrients in water interact with algae to change the overall lake ecosystem during an algae bloom.

Key: (shown at right) (1 point)




8 5 5-ESS3-1

8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

ESS3.C Human Impacts on Earth Systems


ILCS: This item requires students to evaluate which type of data would be most useful to monitor lake conditions that could lead to algae blooms.

Key: 1st, 3rd, and 5th options (1 point)



The following text and simulation compose the stimulus that accompanies grade five items numbered 9 and 10 in the training test.



This section will be completed by the student within the test delivery system.




9 5 5-ESS3-1




ILCS: This item requires students to evaluate data obtained from a simulation that analyzes nitrogen levels in water samples to determine policy changes that would be most effective for reducing the likelihood of algae blooms.

Key: 2nd and 3rd options (1 point)




10 5 5-ESS3-1




ILCS: This item requires students to evaluate data obtained from a simulation that analyzes nitrogen levels in water samples and a map to explain how water quality in a lake would change with a change in land use upstream from the lake.



2 points

Exemplar:

“Nitrogen in water decreases. Populations of fish increase.” OR “Algae bloom shrinks.”

Rubric:

The student demonstrates full understanding of the Performance Expectation, including the ability to

• obtain and combine information from reliable media to explain phenomena or solutions to a design problem; AND

• demonstrate an understanding of human activities in agriculture, industry, or everyday life that have major effects on any one of the following:

o Land o Vegetation o Streams o Oceans o Air o Outer space; AND

• demonstrate an understanding of actions individuals OR communities take to help protect Earth’s resources and environments.

1 point

Exemplar:

Any one of the following: “Nitrogen decreases.” OR “Fish increase.” OR “Less algae.”

Rubric:

The student demonstrates partial understanding of the Performance Expectation.

0 points

Exemplar:

“Nitrogen increases.” OR “Water animals decrease.” OR “Algae increases.” OR student provides off-topic, unclear, or no response.

Rubric:


Grade Eight Sample Items


Grade Eight Sample Items The following stimulus accompanies grade eight items numbered 12 and 13 in the training test.




12 8 MS-ESS1-1 2. Developing and using models

ESS1.B Earth and the Solar System

1. Patterns 2

ILCS: This item requires students to use a model of the Moon’s orbit around Earth to identify the location of the Moon that causes the Sun to appear as a disk of light during an eclipse.

Functionality: Students can move the Moon between four locations. Umbra and penumbra are shown for Earth and for the Moon at each selected location.

Key: Location 2 (1 point)




13 8 MS-ESS1-1 2. Developing and using models

ESS1.B Earth and the Solar System 1. Patterns 3

ILCS: This item requires students to identify a weakness in a model of the Moon’s orbit around Earth and propose a revision to improve the model.

Key: D (1 point)



The following stimulus accompanies grade eight items numbered 14 and 15 in the training test.




14 8 MS-PS3-1 4. Analyzing and interpreting data

PS3.A Definitions of Energy

3. Scale, proportion, and quantity

2

ILCS: This item requires students to analyze data to determine how to graph the data that best represent the purpose of the investigation.



Functionality: Students choose the variables for the x-axis and y-axis from a menu for a graph setup.

Key: x-axis: Speed (m/s); y-axis: Depth (cm) (1 point)




15 8 MS-PS3-1 4. Analyzing and interpreting data

PS3.A Definitions of Energy


2

ILCS: This item requires students to analyze data to determine what relationship is described by the data.

Key: A (1 point)




16 8 MS-LS2-1 4. Analyzing and interpreting data


2. Cause and effect: mechanism and explanation

2

ILCS: This item requires students to analyze data to predict changes to three populations of organisms based on changes to two other populations.

(Item 16 continues on the following page.)





Functionality: The student selects either “Increases” or “Decreases” from the drop-down menu for perch population. The graphs autopopulate for the perch and sea otter populations. The student completes the table by identifying the impact (Increases, Decreases, or Remains steady) on the populations of orcas, sea urchins, and kelp.

Exemplar:

If “Increases” is chosen:

The graphs for the “Increases” selection are shown.

Key: The orca population increases, the sea urchin population decreases, and the kelp population decreases. (1 point)

OR

If “Decreases” is chosen:

The graphs for the “Decreases” selection are shown.



Key: The orca population decreases, the sea urchin population increases, and the kelp population decreases. (1 point)

High School Sample Items


High School Sample Items Item Grade PE SEP DCI CCC DOK

19 High School HS-LS4-3 4. Analyzing and

interpreting data LS4.B Natural Selection 1. Patterns 2

ILCS: This item requires students to analyze inheritable traits between two fruit flies and explain why certain traits are not present within the population of offspring.

1 point

Exemplar:

• “There are no short-winged flies because long wings are dominant.” OR • “There are no short-winged flies because short wings are recessive.”

Rubric:

The student demonstrates a full understanding of the Performance Expectation, including aspects of applying concepts of statistics and probability in the expression of genetic information. The differential survival and reproduction of organisms in a population that has an advantageous heritable trait leads to an increase in the proportion of individuals in future generations that have the trait and to a decrease in the proportion of individuals that do not.



0 points

Exemplar: “There are no short-winged flies because short-wings is a lethal mutation and the offspring did not survive.”

Rubric:




The following stimulus accompanies high school items numbered 20 and 21 in the training test.





interpreting data LS3.B Variation of Traits


2

ILCS: This item requires students to analyze and interpret the data collected to provide the percent of offspring that have a particular trait.

Key: 50 (1 point)





interpreting data LS3.B Variation of Traits


2

ILCS: This item requires students to interpret the results of offspring in a Punnett square to provide the parental genotypes.

Key: Aa, Aa (1 point)




22 High School HS-LS3-2

7. Engaging in argument from evidence

LS3.B Variation of Traits


2

ILCS: This item requires students to study the evidence provided in the Punnett square to indicate the correct parental genotypes expected to produce the offspring shown.

Key: Rr, rr (1 point)



Exemplar: The student may put the Rr genotype in the left box and the rr genotype in the top box.

OR

The student may put the rr genotype in the left box and the Rr genotype in the top box.





6. Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)

LS4.B Natural Selection


3

ILCS: This item requires students to understand how particular traits are maintained in a population and to construct an explanation based on the results of the Punnett square.

2 points

Exemplar:

“Light-bodied flies carry a recessive allele for dark body color, and the offspring homozygous for the recessive trait appear.”

Rubric:

The student demonstrates a full understanding of the Performance Expectation, including

• aspects of constructing explanations based on evidence obtained from a variety of sources; AND

• that natural selection occurs only if there is variation in the genetic information between organisms in a population.



1 point

Exemplar:

“The dark body is recessive.” OR “Homozygous offspring can appear later.”

Rubric:

The student demonstrates a partial understanding of the Performance Expectation.

0 points

Exemplar: “The dark body color is dominant and will appear in the offspring.”

Rubric:






4. Analyzing and interpreting data

LS4.B Natural Selection 1. Patterns 2

ILCS: This item requires students to interpret the data presented in a Punnett square to determine the correct proportions of genotypes shown in a pie chart.



Functionality: The student chooses line segments inside the circle to create a pie chart and then places genotype labels on the sections of the pie chart.

Key: The student correctly chooses line segments representing the following percentages and labels the pie chart:

• One-half (50%) represents Bb. • One-fourth (25%) represents BB. • One-fourth (25%) represents bb.

Exemplars: (1 point)

OR

OR any pie graph representing the correct percentages and labeling

Documents

2017–18 CAST Training Items Scoring Guide - · PDF fileTraining Items Scoring Guide ... This item requires students to describe how to complete a model that shows ... the Solar System