California Standards Tests (CST)
Technical Report
Spring 2006 Administration
February 2007
Educational Testing Service (ETS)
STAR Program
Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction......................................................................................................................................... 1
Background ......................................................................................................................................................... 1
California Standardized Tests (CSTs)................................................................................................................. 2
Significant Developments in 2006 ....................................................................................................................... 3
New Science CSTs in 2006............................................................................................................................. 3
Below Grade Testing ....................................................................................................................................... 3
Writing Scoring ................................................................................................................................................ 3
Item Review ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
Overview of the Technical Report ....................................................................................................................... 4
Appendix 1.A2006 CST Item and Time Chart ................................................................................................. 5
Chapter 2: CST Development Procedures.......................................................................................................... 6
Test Assembly Procedures ................................................................................................................................. 6
Test Specifications .............................................................................................................................................. 6
Statistical Specifications .................................................................................................................................. 6
Content Specifications..................................................................................................................................... 6
Item Development ............................................................................................................................................... 8
Item Review Process........................................................................................................................................... 9
Internal Reviews .............................................................................................................................................. 9
Assessment Review Panels ..........................................................................................................................10
SPAR Review Panel......................................................................................................................................12
Technical Characteristics of the Assembled Tests ...........................................................................................12
Item Development for 2006 ...............................................................................................................................13
Reference ..........................................................................................................................................................15
Appendix 2.AReporting Clusters....................................................................................................................16
English-Language Arts ..................................................................................................................................16
History-Social Science...................................................................................................................................19
Mathematics ..................................................................................................................................................20
Science ..........................................................................................................................................................24
Appendix 2.BTechnical Characteristics Tables and Plots .............................................................................29
Chapter 3: CST Equating Procedures ...............................................................................................................38
Test Construction and Review ..........................................................................................................................38
Post-Administration Operational Equating ........................................................................................................38
Calibration .....................................................................................................................................................38
Scaling ...........................................................................................................................................................39
True Score Equating......................................................................................................................................41
Equating the Braille Versions of the CSTs ........................................................................................................42
Equating Samples .............................................................................................................................................42
Scaling the CSTs for Integrated Science ..........................................................................................................44
References ........................................................................................................................................................47
Appendix 3.ANew Form Conversions Tables................................................................................................48
Chapter 4: Validity...............................................................................................................................................69
Validity Evidence Based on Test Content .........................................................................................................69
Evidence Based on Relations to Other Variables .............................................................................................69
CST for ELA versus CAT/6 Survey Reading/Language/Spelling..................................................................70
CST for Math versus CAT/6 Survey Math .....................................................................................................70
CST for Science versus CAT/6 Survey Science ...........................................................................................71
References ........................................................................................................................................................72
Appendix 4.ATest Correlations Tables ..........................................................................................................73
Chapter 5: Score Reports ...................................................................................................................................75
Descriptions of Scores ......................................................................................................................................75
Raw Score .....................................................................................................................................................75
Scale Score ...................................................................................................................................................75
Proficiency Levels..........................................................................................................................................75
CST Technical Report | Spring 2006 Administration Page i February 2007
STAR Program
Score Reporting.................................................................................................................................................76
Score Report Applications .............................................................................................................................76
Score Report Contents ..................................................................................................................................77
Score Distributions and Summary Statistics .....................................................................................................77
Reference ..........................................................................................................................................................81
Appendix 5.ATypes of Score Reports Tables................................................................................................82
Appendix 5.BScale Score Distribution Tables ...............................................................................................86
Chapter 6: Test Fairness ..............