Appendix B: Computer-based Item Types

Computer-based Item and Response Types

As students engage with the computer-based assessments, they will be asked test questions that require them to respond in several ways, some of which may be new to students.

There are several resources that teachers and students can use to get ready for the test, including a practice test and a training test. As pointed out in appendix C of this manual, it is highly recommended that all students access the Training Test web page before taking the test. Doing so will provide students an opportunity to view and practice each of the item types.

The practice tests and training tests for CAASPP assessments are available on the CAASPP Online Practice and Training Tests web page.

Summary of Computer-based Item Types and How to Provide Responses—General Assessments

Table 1 lists the different item types and briefly describes each one.

Table 1. Computer-based Item and Scoring Types—General Assessments
Content Area Type of Item Brief Description of How to Respond
CSA Audio Response use of recording feature to capture spoken response
Science and CSA Composite two or more item parts from the machine-scored list
Mathematics Equation Responses (EQ) enter equation or numeric response using on-screen panel containing mathematical characters
ELA and CSA Essay/Writing Extended Response (WER) keyboard entry
ELA Evidence Based Selected Response (EBSR) two-part item: Part A; Respond to an MC item; Part B: Cite the evidence that supports the answer to Part A either as MC, MS, or Hot Text
Mathematics Grid Item (GI) – Drag and Drop drag-and-drop single or multiple elements into a background image
Mathematics Grid Item (GI) – Graphing plot points, draw lines, or both
Mathematics Grid Item (GI) – Hot Spot select certain areas of an image
Science and CSA Grid Item (GI) – Graphic Gap Match drag-and-drop single or multiple elements into a background image
Science and CSA Grid, Multiple Select select two or more cells in a table
CSA Grid, Single Select select a single cell in a table
ELA, science Hot Text (HTQ) select sections of text, or drag-and-drop sections of text
Science and CSA Inline Choice List, Multiple Select multiple-options selected response
Science and CSA Inline Choice List, Single Select single-option selected response
CSA Inline Text Choices, Multiple Select select multiple words or phrases
CSA Inline Text Choices, Single Select select a single word or phrase
ELA and mathematics Match Interaction (MI) match text or images in rows to values in columns
Science and CSA Match, Multiple Select drag and drop two or more choices into the appropriate locations
CSA Match, Single Select drag and drop a single choice into the appropriate location
ELA, mathematics, science, and CSA Multiple Choice, Multiple Select (MCMS) select two or more options
ELA, mathematics, science, and CSA Multiple Choice, Single Select (MCSS) select a single option
CSA Numeric select a single-entry box with a numeric value that may contain decimals or a slash line to represent a fraction
Science, ELA, mathematics, and CSA Set Leader stimulus, such as a passage or image, with one or more questions assigned to it based on its content
ELA and mathematics Short Answer Text Response (SA) keyboard entry
Science Simulation manipulate a set of inputs within an interactive stimuli to provide custom output that students use to respond to multiple items
Mathematics Table Interaction (TI) keyboard entry into table cells
Science Text Entry keyboard alpha or numeric entry
Science and CSA Zone, Multiple Select select two or more zones
Science and CSA Zone, Single Select select a single zone

Summary of Computer-based Item Types and How to Provide Responses—Alternate Assessments

The CAAs feature innovative and technology-enhanced items that are designed to be engaging for students and represent a variety of types and approaches. Table 2 gives details about these items, describing the type of functionality with which the student and test examiner will be presented. Test examiners administering the CAA for Science also have the option of selecting Mark as No Response for an item to which the student is not orienting.

Table 2. Computer-based Item and Scoring Types—Alternate Assessments
Type of Item Brief Description of How to Respond
Bar-Picturegraph/‌Histogram

These items present a bar graph to the student to manipulate the bar height to represent an answer.

  • Single Select—The student manipulates one graph bar.
  • Multiple Select—The student manipulates two or more graph bars.
Composite These items require a student to respond to a stimulus by using multiple item types in a single item with multiple response portions. Scoring is dependent on which item type combination is selected, and the raw weights for each part are combined to give an item score.
Graph These items allow a student to plot points, lines, multiple segment lines, or any combination of these on a graph. A Graph may have points or lines that appear when the graph first displays that the student cannot manipulate, or it may be interactive, and the student must manipulate them to respond.
Grid

These items consist of a table with descriptions or characteristics, which the student then selects a box in a column or row for true-and-false or yes-or-no type of questions.

  • Single Select—The student marks a single cell in a table for credit.
  • Multiple Select—The student marks two or more cells in a table. The question might only allow one selection per row or column, but it might also have no restrictions in the number of cells a student can mark.
Inline Choice List

These items consist of questions with a drop-down list of choices to fill in the blank.

  • Single Select—The student must fill a single blank from a drop-down list for credit.
  • Multiple Select—The student must fill multiple blanks from a drop-down list for credit.
Inline Text Choices

These items present a short passage or a paragraph that contains underlined words or phrases. These underlined words or phrases represent the choices a student can select.

  • Single Select—The student selects one term or phrase.
  • Multiple Select—The student selects two or more terms or phrases.
Match (drag-and-drop)

These items require the student to move objects such as words or images by selecting and dragging the objects into a specific order or to a specific location in a table, passage, or image.

  • Single Select—The student drags and drops a single choice into the appropriate location.
  • Multiple Select—The student drags and drops two or more choices into the appropriate locations.
Multiple Choice

These items consist of a question and list of choices; they may also include a stimulus or subset of a passage as the stimulus.

  • Single Select—The student must select the one correct choice to receive credit.
  • Multiple Select—The student must select all correct choices to receive credit.
  • Partial Credit—The student must respond to a stimulus by providing a direct response to the test examiner who then rates the response by assigning a weighted score, using the rubric provided in the DFA.
  • Multiple Attempt (Try-2)—The student makes an initial selection, and, if the response is incorrect, one option is removed leaving two remaining options from which to choose for a second attempt.
Numeric The student responds by selecting a single-entry box with a numeric value. The numeric value may contain decimals or a slash line to represent a fraction.
Set Leader This is a stimulus such as a passage or an image. The Leader has one or more questions assigned to it, based on its content.
Zones

These items have answer choices that are predefined “hotspots” on an image, word, or phrase within a sentence. When the student selects a spot, the selection is highlighted, shaded, or outlined in red.

  • Single Select—The student selects one zone for credit.
  • Multiple Select—The student selects two or more zones for credit.

Technical Skills to Access Embedded Resources

To access some of the embedded resources (such as strikethrough, highlighter, ASL videos, and text-to-speech) that are available to help work through these item types, students may need to access the context menu. Note the method to access the context menu is dependent on the student’s device type. Devices and methods are shown in table 3.

Table 3. Context Menu for Selecting with the Right Mouse Button
Device Type Method to Access the Context Menu
Windows-based desktop or laptop (two-button mouse) Select with the right mouse button.
mac OS–based desktop or laptop (one-button mouse) Hold down the [Ctrl] key on keyboard and then select with the mouse button.
iPad tablet (touchscreen) Tap on the menu in the upper-left corner of the secure browser application.
Chromebook (trackpad) Hold down the [Alt] key on the keyboard and tap the trackpad.