Assessment, Accountability, and Continuous Improvement

The Assessment, Accountability, and Continuous Improvement (AACI) team is available to support schools and school districts with state and local assessments. This includes: 

• State testing readiness and compliance: End-to-end support for California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, English/language arts (ELA)/math), California Science Test, California Alternate Assessment, California Spanish Assessment, and English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (Initial, Summative, Alternate)—testing calendars, security plans, Test Operations Management System setup, Security and Test Administration Incident Reporting System/appeals, make-ups, and audit readiness.

• Accessibility Resources: Proactive use of universal tools, designated supports, and accommodations, available to every student as appropriate, with alignment to Individualized Education Plan/504/English learner plans, plus proctor guidance and documentation.

• Local assessment system design: Coherent, right-sized assessment calendars; blueprint alignment to Next Generation Science Standards, Common Core State Standards for mathematics and ELA/literacy, and English Language Development Standards; high-quality performance tasks, rubrics, and scorer calibration; minimizing redundancy.

• Training and capacity building: Role-specific learning for teachers, proctors, site test coordinators, and district personnel; end-to-end support for assessment systems and data literacy; and practical continuous improvement (Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles, progress monitoring, and implementation coaching).

• Data literacy: Build the capacity of leaders and teams to analyze district and site data, interpret student group patterns, understand growth and comparative measures, use dashboards and visualizations, and turn insights into clear, actionable instruction.

• Accountability and dashboards: Interpretation and understanding of accountability, including California School Dashboard metrics (academic, English learner progress indicator, graduation, college and career indicators, chronic absence, and suspension), target setting, and evidence-based next steps.

Continuous improvement and implementation science: Goal setting, progress monitoring, and PDSA cycles that apply improvement and implementation science to turn results into action at the classroom, site, and district levels.

• CDE Assessment Website, including the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP), the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC), the Physical Fitness Test (PFT), the High School Equivalency (HSE) Test, and California Proficiency Program (CPP).

• Statewide CAASPP and ELPAC results are available at https://caaspp-elpac.ets.org/.

  • Access RCOE Tableau visualizations of assessment results at https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/rcoe/vizzes#!/.

The test administration website for CAASPP and ELPAC is available at https://www.caaspp-elpac.org/.

Riverside County Assessment Network (RCAN)

RCAN is a countywide professional network for assessment, accountability, and data leaders. District teams come together to share best practices, solve problems of practice, and co-design solutions that improve student outcomes. Meetings provide a forum to discuss what is happening in educational assessment, what is new, what is working, and what is not. Sessions include timely updates on legislation, budget, and accountability at the state and federal levels, along with practices that inform instruction.

Network benefits:

• PLC roundtables, cross-district communities of practice, and problem of practice collaboration.

• Listserv updates and access to online RCAN materials and resources.

• Options for customized assessment, accountability, and data support.

For statewide coherence, RCAN connects with the Regional Assessment Network within the Curricular and Improvement Support Committee to align local practice with California guidance.

2025-2026 RCAN Meetings

Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 
Tuesday, February 3, 2026
Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Tuesday, May 26, 2026

Location

Riverside County Office of Education
Conference Center
4280 Brockton Avenue
Riverside, CA 92501

Time

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Registration

https://events.rcoe.us/RCAN_25-26

The Assessment, Accountability, and Continuous Improvement (AACI) team provides support for local educational agency (LEA) representatives serving as California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) administrators and others who support CALPADS for each LEA. CALPADS is a longitudinal data system used to maintain individual-level data, including student demographics, course data, discipline, assessments, staff assignments, and other data for state and federal reporting. In partnership with each LEA through data-sharing agreements, the AACI team is able to support CALPADS data review, resulting in more accurate and consistent outcomes on public reports such as the CA School Dashboard. Please contact Kerry Bobbitt at kbobbitt@rcoe.us if you have any questions or are interested in customized support.

CALPADS Resources

• CDE CALPADS Homepage

• CDE CALPADS Calendar

• CDE CALPADS Communications

• CDE CALPADS System Documentation

• CA School Information Services (CSIS) Training LMS and Training Videos

• CSIS CALPADS Information

• CSIS CALPADS Technical Support

CALPADS Network

2025-2026 CALPADS Network Meetings

Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Location

Riverside County Office of Education
Conference Center
4280 Brockton Avenue
Riverside, CA 92501
(Hybrid meetings; in-person and Zoom web conference.)

Time

9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Registration

https://events.bizzabo.com/CALPADS_25-26

The Assessment, Accountability, and Continuous Improvement (AACI) team brings data to life—transforming publicly available information into clear, actionable reports that support educators, leaders, and communities. Explore the RCOE Data Catalog for access to dynamic dashboards, in-depth reports, and interactive analysis tools designed to help you make better decisions for students.

Looking for quick access to additional resources?

RCOE Dashboards

The AACI team creates a variety of reports using publicly available data through a variety of data sources.

• Tableau Data Dashboard - Interactive Visuals on Public Datasets for Deeper Insight
• Tableau Private Reporting (District Login Required) - Secure, District-level Reporting Tailored to Your Needs

Partnerships That Empower Districts

AACI partners with leading organizations to give Riverside County districts data that goes beyond the basics—opening new opportunities for students and reducing costs for schools. Best of all, many of these services are fully subsidized by RCOE and offered at no cost to districts.

Here’s how your district benefits:

• Track student success beyond graduation with National Student Clearinghouse Student Tracker data.

• Expand access to higher education through California State University Direct Admissions, connecting students early to university opportunities.

• Support families in planning for college with CalKIDS college savings account data, giving districts a way to guide families toward future readiness.

Contact Dr. Nick Chitwood at nchitwood@rcoe.us to learn how your district can tap into these partnerships and unlock powerful new resources.

Data Requests

Please submit requests for data reports to the Assessment, Accountability, and Continuous Improvement (AACI) team using the request form. A team member will contact you about your request.

AACI Data Request Form

The California System of Support is designed as a tiered model that affords services to districts and schools based upon identified needs in order to support continuous improvement efforts. The first tier, Level 1 - Universal Supports, consists of resources and assistance made available to all local educational agencies (LEAs). Level 2 or Differentiated Assistance (DA) is the second tier of assistance required by the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) statute and is provided to LEAs that meet eligibility criteria based on CA School Dashboard data. (Source: CA Department of Education)

The Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE) prides itself on supporting all districts eligible for DA through services that are truly differentiated. The RCOE supports districts with a root cause analysis process to identify strengths and opportunities for growth. This is coupled with working collaboratively to secure assistance from academic, programmatic, or fiscal expert(s) to identify and implement effective programs and practices that are designed to improve performance in any areas of need identified by the school district. Every effort is made to align the DA process with the timeline for each district’s development of its Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) to ensure that any areas of identified need are communicated to educational partners and inform actions and services within the LCAP. As additional needs arise, districts coordinate with a liaison from the RCOE to determine how to address needs. Over the course of several school years, the number of districts eligible for DA in Riverside County has decreased as outcomes for student groups have continued to improve on the CA School Dashboard.  

In an effort to improve DA services provided to districts, the RCOE conducted several self-studies to assess the perspectives of school district leaders regarding RCOE’s DA support, along with strategies leading to improved student outcomes. The findings of these self-studies are included in the Differentiated Assistance and Strategic Practices for Student Success documents.

Additional information about Differentiated Assistance can be found here.