Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program

General information

Each spring, students in grades two through eleven take STAR tests. The STAR Program consists of several key components, including:

  • California Modified Assessment (CMA), an alternate assessment that is based on modified achievement standards in ELA for grades three through eleven; mathematics for grades three through seven, Algebra I, and Geometry; and science in grades five and eight, and Life Science in grade ten. The CMA is designed to assess those students whose disabilities preclude them from achieving grade-level proficiency on an assessment of the California content standards with or without accommodations.
  • California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA), includes ELA and mathematics in grades two through eleven, and science for grades five, eight, and ten. The CAPA is given to those students with significant cognitive disabilities whose disabilities prevent them from taking either the CSTs with accommodations or modifications or the CMA with accommodations.
  • Standards-based Tests in Spanish (STS), includes reading/language arts (RLA) and mathematics assessments. The STS allows English learners whose primary language is Spanish to demonstrate their knowledge of the California content standards by taking an assessment in their primary language.

The assessments under the STAR Program show how well students are doing in relation to the state content standards. On each of these assessments, student scores are reported as performance levels.
For detailed information regarding the STAR Program results for each grade and performance level, including the percent of students not tested, see the CDE STAR Results Web site at http://star.cde.ca.gov.