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Fetch California CAASPP assessment data

Source: R/fetch_assessment.R
fetch_assess.Rd

Downloads and processes CAASPP Smarter Balanced assessment data from the California Department of Education. Includes test results for grades 3-8 and 11 in ELA and Mathematics.

Usage

fetch_assess(
  end_year,
  tidy = TRUE,
  subject = c("Both", "ELA", "Math"),
  student_group = c("ALL", "GROUPS"),
  local_data = NULL,
  use_cache = TRUE
)

Arguments

end_year

School year end (e.g., 2024 for 2023-24 school year). Supports 2015-2025. Note: 2020 had no statewide testing due to COVID-19.

tidy

If TRUE (default), returns data in long (tidy) format with metric_type and metric_value columns. If FALSE, returns wide format with separate columns for each metric.

subject

Assessment subject to fetch: "Both" (default), "ELA", or "Math"

student_group

"ALL" (default) for all students aggregate, or "GROUPS" for all student group breakdowns (demographics, EL status, etc.)

local_data

Optional local data from import_local_assess() to use instead of downloading. Use this when you have manually downloaded CAASPP files from the portal.

use_cache

If TRUE (default), uses locally cached data when available

Value

A tibble with assessment data. In tidy format, includes columns:

  • end_year: School year end (integer)

  • cds_code: 14-digit CDS identifier

  • county_code, district_code, school_code: CDS components

  • agg_level: Aggregation level (S=School, D=District, C=County, T=State)

  • grade: Grade level (03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 11, or 13 for all grades)

  • subject: Assessment subject (ELA or Math)

  • metric_type: Type of metric (only in tidy format)

  • metric_value: Value of the metric (only in tidy format)

Details

Available Years:

  • 2015-2019: Pre-COVID baseline data

  • 2020: No statewide testing (COVID-19)

  • 2021: Reduced participation

  • 2022-2025: Full post-pandemic data

Data Source:

California CAASPP Smarter Balanced Assessments Portal: https://caaspp-elpac.ets.org/caaspp/ResearchFileListSB

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
library(caschooldata)
library(dplyr)

# Fetch 2024 assessment data
assess_2024 <- fetch_assess(end_year = 2024, tidy = TRUE)

# State-level 11th grade proficiency
state_11_prof <- assess_2024 %>%
  filter(agg_level == "T",
         grade == "11",
         metric_type == "pct_met_and_above")

# District-level comparison
district_ela <- assess_2024 %>%
  filter(agg_level == "D",
         grade == "11",
         subject == "ELA",
         metric_type == "pct_met_and_above") %>%
  arrange(desc(metric_value))
} # }