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Session 3: CAASPP ELA CAT & Performance Tasks

Rename yourself: name, grade & school

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Introductions and Norms

  • We will start on time and end of time
  • Take breaks when needed
  • Cameras encouraged, not required
  • Participate via chat or voice
  • Be ready to screen share in breakouts
  • Assume positive intent, we’re all at different places in our learning.

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Series Overview

This series is a time of support and shared understanding. You can join all of the sessions or only the sessions that pertain to you.

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Today’s Objectives

Session 1 Recap

  • Overview

Session 2

  • Accommodations and accessibility resources

Today’s Focus

  • Student thinking behind CAT questions
  • Cognitive demands of Performance Tasks
  • Instructional moves that prepare students

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Check In

-GIF # you relate to today

and why

1

2

3

4

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CAASPP ELA Big Picture

  • Two Parts
  • ELA CAT
  • ELA Performance Tasks

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What is ELA CAT?

  • Computer Adaptive: adjusts questions difficulty (around 35 questions)
  • Items combine selected-response and constructed-response questions designed to span multiple claims and targets within the ELA standards
  • Assesses:
    • Reading
    • Writing
    • Research/ Inquiry
  • Provides Claim Level Data
  • CAT is a snapshot of CCSS skills

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ELA Blueprint Overview

ELA Claims

  • Claim 1: Reading – closely read and analyze texts
  • Claim 2: Writing – produce effective writing
  • Claim 3: Speaking & Listening – collaborative discussions
  • Claim 4: Research/Inquiry – investigate, analyze, present information

What Teachers Should Notice

  • Writing is integrated, not isolated
  • Reading and writing are grounded in text evidence
  • Performance Tasks look very similar to strong classroom assignments

Sample CAASPP ELA Item Types (Preview Only)

  • Short constructed response (text evidence)
  • Brief write to source
  • Extended writing (PT)

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Claims

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What CAT questions REALLY ask students to do?

Behind Every CAT Item� Students must:

  • Read closely (often under time pressure)
  • Make meaning independently
  • Apply a skill in isolation
  • Choose the best answer (not just a correct one)

​

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Cognitive Demands of the ELA CAT

Students Must Be Able To:

  • Determine central ideas quickly�
  • Infer meaning without hints�
  • Use context to define vocabulary�
  • Evaluate answer choices critically�
  • CAT struggles often signal reading stamina or surface-level comprehension

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Sample grade 4 reading

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Sample grade 7 listening

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Sample high school writing

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Sample grade 5 research/ inquiry

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Preparing Students for CAT

  • Daily close reading of grade-level text�
  • Frequent short passages with purposeful questions�
  • Teaching students to eliminate distractors�
  • Explicit vocabulary-in-context practice�
  • CAT readiness = strong Tier 1 instruction

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Best Practices for ELA CAT

  • Use CAT blocks selectively (FIABs)
  • Analyze by claim, not just overall score
  • Use items as:
    • Warm-ups
    • Exit tickets
    • Small-group diagnostics

​

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CAT vs Performance Task

Key Difference

  • CAT = Can students apply a skill independently?�
  • PT = Can students sustain thinking over time?

​

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What performance tasks REALLY ask students to do

Beyond Writing an Essay

Students must:

  • Read multiple texts strategically
  • Hold ideas across sources
  • Synthesize, not summarize
  • Write with purpose, structure, and evidence
  • PTs assess thinking + writing endurance

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Challenges in Performance Tasks

Where Students Commonly Struggle

  • Cognitive overload (too much at once)
  • Weak planning before writing
  • Using evidence without explaining it
  • Losing focus on the prompt

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Performance Task Recipe

  • 1 Research Item
    1. Multiple choice or hand scored short answer question
  • Full Write Essay
    • Organization and Purpose (4)
    • Evidence and Elaboration (4)
    • Conventions (2)

Writing is always source-based

Planning is a critical skill

Rubrics define instructional targets

Strong daily instruction = PT readiness

  • NOTE: Both short answer and full write essays are always hand scored by a live person, not AI

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Essay Types Students May Write for grades 3-5

Primary Focus: Informative & Narrative Writing

1. Informative / Explanatory (Most Common)

  • Explain a topic using multiple sources
  • Show understanding of key ideas and details

2. Narrative (Source-Based)

  • Write a story connected to the text(s)
  • Retell or extend events using evidence

What This REALLY Asks of Students

  • Read and understand more than one text
  • Pull relevant details from sources
  • Organize ideas clearly (beginning–middle–end)
  • Explain ideas in their own words

Instructional Priorities (3–5)

  • Teach how to find and explain evidence
  • Practice writing short, focused paragraphs
  • Model planning before writing
  • Use sentence frames to support explanations

​

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Essay Types Students May Write for grades 6-11

Primary Focus: Informative & Argumentative Writing

1. Informative / Explanatory

  • Synthesize ideas across multiple texts
  • Explain relationships, causes, or processes

2. Argumentative

  • Make a clear claim based on the sources
  • Support with relevant evidence
  • Address opposing ideas (often indirectly)

(Narrative writing is rare at this level.)

What This REALLY Asks of Students

  • Analyze texts deeply
  • Compare and synthesize information
  • Write structured, coherent essays
  • Maintain focus and stamina over time

Instructional Priorities (6–11)

  • Teach thesis and claim development explicitly
  • Practice evidence + commentary (quote → explain)
  • Model synthesis across sources
  • Build writing stamina with extended tasks

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Breaking down a PT

What is the purpose of the task?�

What thinking is required before writing?�

Where might students disengage?

​

What would a proficient student do first?�

What would a struggling student do first?�

How do we teach the difference?

  • Hands on activities- planning, not writing

Small-Group Work

  • Review PT sources
  • Create:
    • A thesis
    • 3 pieces of evidence
    • One explanation sentence per piece
    • 10–15 minutes
    • Reinforces that planning is the skill

To prepare students:

  • Teach students how to annotate digitally�
  • Practice planning using scratch paper or outlines�
  • Build editing stamina without relying on grammar tools�
  • Normalize rereading and revising within time limits

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The Role of the Writing Rubric

Rubrics Are Not Just for Scoring� They clarify:

  • What quality looks like
  • What “enough evidence” means
  • How organization supports meaning
  • Students should see the rubric before the task

Example

  • “Effective evidence and elaboration”� = quoting + explaining + connecting
  • Where does your instruction explicitly teach this?

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Suggested PT Writing Protocol

Writing performance tasks as a week long process

Session 1: Read passage(s) and answer question- read questions first, read prompt & sources, answer the research item

Session 2: Full write directions & plan (graphic organizer) writing- think, read, plan, understand the genre

  • Students do not get scored on titles, indentation or paragraph break down, but on a well written topic, adhering to the rubric cohesively, understanding the rubric with students, appropriate style is evident

Session 3: Write a the whole essay as a draft on paper- after planning out the full essay, students should write the whole essay on their scratch paper

Session 4: Revise & edit essay- students take time to revise and edit their writing from the bullet points of the rubric

Session 5: Type the final draft- use the paper draft to type the final essay, re-review bullet points of the rubric

Use universal tools: Highlighter, line reader, and spell check

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Practice Tests with Scores

Prepartion and Scoring Guide

​

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Pausing a Performance Task

Students CAN pause

  • At any point during the PT
  • Pausing saves:
    • Typed responses
    • Notes
    • Progress on questions

What happens when paused

  • The test session ends
  • Student logs out safely
  • No work is lost

Important nuance:

  • Students cannot change answers to completed items after submitting them
  • Unsubmitted work remains editable

Resuming a Performance Task

When students return

  • They log back in using their test ticket/session
  • The system:
    • Returns them to the last unanswered question
    • Restores all typed work and notes

What they CAN do

  • Continue writing
  • Edit unfinished responses
  • Review unsubmitted questions

What they CANNOT do

  • Go back to submitted questions
  • Reopen completed CAT items (CAT rules apply there)

Timing Considerations

  • Performance Tasks are untimed
  • However:
    • Fatigue matters
    • Writing stamina matters
  • Most schools split PTs over multiple sessions

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Key Takeaways

CAT = independence + transfer�

PT = synthesis + stamina�

Strong instruction prepares students better than test prep�

Interims reveal where instruction needs support

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Reflection

Choose One

  1. One misconception you’re leaving behind�
  2. One instructional shift you’ll make�
  3. One way you’ll support students’ thinking endurance

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Resources

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Questions/Thoughts

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Thank you!

See you for our next session-

Math CAT & Performance Tasks and CAST

February 24th

3:00-4:30