Testing and Assessment FAQs

Students enrolled in one of the nine California Virtual Academies (CAVA) are required to take the following tests:

• K12 curriculum lesson, unit, and semester assessments
• CAASPP (Grades 3–11)
• Physical Fitness Test (Grades 5, 7, and 9)

All students must comply with all state testing requirements. The state testing location may not be near your house and as such, you may have to travel to take state proctored tests.

The California Virtual Academies use specific grading criteria for each course. 

Students in Elementary School (TK through 5th grade) are assigned grade marks each semester based upon the board-approved grading rubric. Course grading takes into consideration the mastery-based K12 curriculum that CAVA uses for the elementary grades, as well as assignments and activities given by the teacher. Students will be evaluated based on whether assigned lessons marked as mastered/completed exceed expectations, meet expectations, or fall below expectations based on lessons and activities assigned on the student’s quarterly Individualized Learning Plan (ILP). For a lesson to be considered mastered, students must complete all materials contained within the lesson with an accuracy of 80 percent or higher.

Students in Middle School (6th through 8th grade) earn letter grades in math, English/language arts, history, and science. The criteria for these grades are specific to the subject, and primarily include completion and submission of assigned lessons by the due date, as well as completion of assigned assessments. Physical education, music, and art are assigned a grade of exceeds, meets, or below expectations, according to the completion of assigned lessons. Report cards are given at the end of each semester.

For high school students, grades are determined based on how they perform on teacher-graded assignments within each course. Teacher-graded activities include the following:

• Practice Lessons
• Web Explorations
• Labs
• Journal Entries 
• Class Discussions
• Quizzes
• Tests
• Participation