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Standards and Assessments

Non-Regulatory Guidance

March 10, 2003

DRAFT GUIDANCE

15

Introduction

The cornerstone of any substantive education reform lies in the creation and application of rigorous academic standards. For far too long, many children in this country have fallen victim to, in terms of President George W. Bush, "the soft bigotry of low expectations." The No Child Left Behind Act, signed by the President on January 8, 2002, has ushered in a new era in American public education, an era that begins with the premise that every child can learn and an era that demands that all children achieve to high standards, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or disability. Only by holding all students to high standards and believing that all children can learn, will every child in America excel and be able to live out his or her dreams.

Under The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, States will build on the work they have already begun in the area of academic standards and implement challenging academic content and student achievement standards in the core academic subjects of reading/language arts, mathematics, and science. The power of rigorous State academic standards is undeniable: they provide a clear direction for what all students should know and be able to do and establish clear expectations for schools, teachers, parents, and students.

Rigorous academic standards, however, are but one critical element to ensuring that all children attain to high levels of academic achievement. To reach our goal of high achievement for all children, we must also be able accurately and efficiently to measure whether or not students are meeting the standards of learning expected of them, diagnose problems, and offer immediate intervention. As President Bush has stated, "In order to make sure children are not simply shuffled through the system, we must measure. We must determine what needs to be corrected early, before it's too late."

Although previous federal legislation also required that States assess public school children, States were required to test only three times during a student's tenure in the K-12 educational system. This left too many intervening years in which children's academic difficulties went undiagnosed. The President and the Congress, in passing The No Child Left Behind Act, recognized that these intervening years without assessments were precious years during which far too many children were slipping through the cracks and being left behind. Therefore, under No Child Left Behind, States will enhance their existing assessment systems to include annual assessments in reading/language arts and mathematics for all public school students in grades 3 through 8 and at least once in grades 10 through 12 by the 2005-2006 school year. Additionally, by the 2007-2008 school year, all States will annually assess their students in science at least once in grades 3 through 5, once in grades 6 through 9, and once in grades 10 through 12.

This Standards and Assessment Guidance is written to assist States, districts, and schools in understanding and implementing The No Child Left Behind Act in the area of standards and assessments. This guidance document is one of three documents the Department is preparing on standards and assessments. In addition to this document, the Department will soon be releasing a Technical Addendum for Standards and Assessments and a Peer Reviewer Manual for Standards and Assessments. The Technical Addendum will contain more detailed and technical discussion on many of the topics covered in this guidance document and is written primarily for State and district assessment and accountability directors. The Peer Reviewer Manual for Standards and Assessments will provide States additional details on the types of evidence and documentation that peers will review to make recommendations to the Department for the approval of State assessment systems.


Standards and Assessments Guidance

I. INTRODUCTION

A.  GENERAL INFORMATION 1

A-1. What are academic standards?

A-2. What are the principal requirements for standards and assessments in The No Child Left Behind Act?

A-3. Has the federal government provided funds to States to develop and implement the standards and assessments required by No Child Left Behind?

II. ACADEMIC STANDARDS

B.  GENERAL ISSUES 5

B-1. For what subjects must a State adopt and implement academic standards?

B-2. Do State academic standards apply to all public school children?

B-3. Whom must a State involve in the development of its academic standards?

B-4. Does the U.S. Department of Education approve the content of a State's standards?

C.  academic content standards 6

C-1. What are the requirement for academic content standards for grades 3-8 in reading/language arts and mathematics?

C-2. What are the requirements for academic content standards at the high school level?

C-3. What are the requirements for academic content standards in science?

C-4. What is the timeline for States to submit evidence to the U.S. Department of Education that they have adopted challenging academic content standards?

D. Academic achievement standards………………………………………7

D.1. Must a State have student academic achievement standards for every grade and subject assessed?

D-2. How many levels of academic achievement standards must a State have?

D-3. What is the timeline for States implementing academic achievement standards and for States submitting such evidence to the U.S. Department of Education?

III. ACADEMIC ASSESSMENTS

E. GENERAL ISSUES……………………………………………………………………9

E-1. For what subjects and grades must a state develop and administer academic assessments?

E-2. May a State use end-of-course tests to fulfill the requirements for assessments at the high school level?

E-3. What is the timeline for States submitting evidence to the U.S. Department of Education that they have developed and implemented the assessments required by No Child Left Behind?

E-4. Are States that have not fully implemented the assessment requirements of the 1994 ESEA reauthorization required to meet all the assessment deadlines of No Child Left Behind?

E-5. Must a State's assessment system include all public school students?

E-6. If a State administers assessments in subjects other than reading/language arts, mathematics, and science, must the State include all public school students?

F. DESIGN OF STATE ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS……………………………………11

F-1. What are the principal requirements for the design of a State's academic assessment system?

F-2. What is a coherent assessment system?

F-3. What is alignment?

F-4. What are State responsibilities for the validity and reliability of assessments?

F-5. What are the different types of assessments that States may use in the design of their assessment systems?

F-6. Must a State's assessments be uniform statewide or may a State employ a combination of State and local assessments in its assessment system?

IV. issues related to special populations and standards and assessments

G. GENERAL ISSUES…………………………………………………………………….16

G-l. What are a State's responsibilities for the design of its assessment system for students with disabilities, students covered under Section 504, and students with limited English proficiency?

G-2. What are accommodations?

G-3. What are alternate assessments?

H. STUDENTS ELIGIBLE UNDER IDEA AND sECTION 504………………………17

H-1. Who decides which students with disabilities will receive assessment accommodations?

H-2. What assessment accommodations may be provided for students with disabilities and students covered under Section 504?

H-3. Which students should take an alternate assessment?

H-4. May IEP teams exempt students with disabilities or may placement teams exempt students covered under Section 504 from participating in a State's assessment system?

H-5. Is parental permission required for students with disabilities or students covered under Section 504 to participate in a State's assessment system?

H-6. What is out-of-level testing and may students with disabilities and students covered under Section 504 be tested using out-of-level testing?

I. LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENT (LEP) STUDENTS……………………………19

I-1. What assessments are required for LEP students?

I-2. What accommodations are allowed for LEP students on a State's academic assessments?

I-3. Must States provide for native language assessments?

I-4. How long may States administer native language assessments in reading/language arts to LEP students?

J. MIGRANT AND OTHER MOBILE STUDENTS……………………………………20

J-1. Must a state include migrant and other mobile students who have not attended a school or LEA for a full academic year in the State's assessment system?

J-2. Must a State include migrant students in its assessments if the migrant children are on schedule to return to their "home base" school and will participate in that State's assessment?

J-3. How might States work together to ensure that migrant children who are absent for the State assessment in their "home base" State have an opportunity to take the test?

J-4. What procedures might a State implement to ensure that assessment data are reliably disaggregated for migrant children for reporting purposes?

J-5. Should States work together to share the student assessment data for migrant students and other mobile students?

k. PRIVATE SCHOOL STUDENTS……………………………………………………22

K-1. Do State academic standards apply to students attending private schools?

K-2. Must States include students attending private schools in their academic assessment systems?

K-3. May Title I funds be used to assess private school children?

K-4. How must States apply standards and assessments to students with disabilities placed in private schools by a public agency?

V. ASSESSMENT DATA

L. DISAGGREGATION OF DATA FOR REPORTING PURPOSES………………...24

L-1. For what subgroups must a State disaggregate and report assessment results?

L-2. Are there instances when a State does not have to disaggregate and report assessment results for subgroups?

M. ASSESSMENT REPORTS……………………………………………………………25

M-1. What are student assessment reports?

M-2. What are itemized score analyses?

Vi. ASSESSMENTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

N. ASSESSMENTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY……………………27

N-1. What are the requirements for testing English language proficiency under Title I and Title III?

N-2. Must an SEA use a common assessment of English language proficiency statewide or may an SEA use multiple assessments?

VII. NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS

O. NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS…………………28

O-1. What is the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)?

O-2. What are the requirements for participation in NAEP?

O-3. Will the Federal government provide assistance to SEAs and LEAs for their participation in NAEP assessments?

O-4. Who takes NAEP assessments?

O-5. Are accommodations offered for LEP students and students with disabilities during NAEP assessments?

O-6. How are NAEP assessment results reported?

O-7. Will NAEP data be used to measure a State's adequate yearly progress?

VIII. Federal Funds for State standards and assessments

P. federal funds for state standards and assessments…………30

P-1. What federal funds are available for state standards and assessments?

P-2. How may States use their Section 6111 Grants for State Assessments and Related Activities?

P-3. What is the Section 6112 Grants for Enhanced Assessment Instruments Program?

P-4. May States use their consolidated State-level administrative funds to pay for standards and assessments?

P-5. May States use their State-level Title III funds for the development or purchase of English language proficiency assessments?

15

Standards and Assessments: Guidance

I. INTRODUCTION

A. generAL information

A-1. What are academic standards?

Academic standards refer to statements of expectations for student learning and achievement. Academic standards are composed of both academic content standards and student academic achievement standards.

Academic Content Standards

Academic content standards specify what all students are expected to know and be able to do. Academic content standards must contain coherent and rigorous content and encourage the teaching of advanced learning.

Academic content standards should be clear and specific and give teachers, students, and parents sufficient direction to guide teaching and learning. Additionally, academic content standards should be understandable for educators to teach the expected content in their classrooms and for students to attain to the expected high levels of achievement. Thus, academic content standards should be written in clear, jargon-free, and straightforward prose that is accessible to a wide range of audiences.

Student Academic Achievement Standards

Student academic achievement standards (called performance standards under the 1994 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act) are explicit definitions of what students must know and be able to do to demonstrate proficiency. Achievement standards further define content standards by connecting them to information that describes how well students are acquiring the knowledge and skills contained in academic content standards. Thus, it is essential that a State's achievement standards be aligned with its content standards.

Academic achievement standards should be conceptualized as a system that includes the following components:

o  Achievement levels -- Labels for the levels of student achievement that convey the degree of student achievement in a given content area. Each achievement level encompasses a range of student achievement.

o  Achievement descriptors -- Descriptions of the competencies associated with each level of achievement. Achievement descriptors describe what students at each achievement level know and can do.

o  Exemplars -- Examples of student work that illustrate the range of achievement in a content area within each achievement level.

o  Cut scores -- Scores on an assessment that separate one level of achievement from another.

A-2. What are the principal requirements for standards and assessments in The No Child Left Behind Act?

To ensure that all public school students have access to a high-quality and challenging education and become proficient in the core academic subjects of reading/language arts, mathematics, and science, States will develop and implement academic content and achievement standards in these subjects and administer annual assessments aligned to the standards. Additionally, because English language proficiency is essential for academic success, States must also administer annual assessments of English language proficiency to measure and be held accountable for limited English proficient students' progress in acquiring English. Finally, States and districts are required to participate in biennial reading and math assessments of the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Academic Content and Student Achievement Standards

o  By May 2003, as part of a State's consolidated application, States must have challenging academic content standards in reading/language arts and mathematics to cover each of grades 3-8. Additionally, as required under the 1994 ESEA, States must continue to have academic content standards for grades 10-12 in reading/language arts and mathematics.