300.160—Participation in assessments.
(a) General.
A State must ensure that all children with disabilities are included in all general State and district-wide assessment programs, including assessments described under section 1111 of the ESEA, 20 U.S.C. 6311, with appropriate accommodations and alternate assessments, if necessary, as indicated in their respective IEPs.
(b) Accommodation guidelines.
(1)
A State (or, in the case of a district-wide assessment, an LEA) must develop guidelines for the provision of appropriate accommodations.
(ii)
Instruct IEP Teams to select, for each assessment, only those accommodations that do not invalidate the score.
(c) Alternate assessments.
(1)
A State (or, in the case of a district-wide assessment, an LEA) must develop and implement alternate assessments and guidelines for the participation of children with disabilities in alternate assessments for those children who cannot participate in regular assessments, even with accommodations, as indicated in their respective IEPs, as provided in paragraph (a) of this section.
(2)
For assessing the academic progress of students with disabilities under Title I of the ESEA, the alternate assessments and guidelines in paragraph (c)(1) of this section must provide for alternate assessments that—
(i)
Are aligned with the State's challenging academic content standards and challenging student academic achievement standards;
(ii)
If the State has adopted modified academic achievement standards permitted in 34 CFR 200.1(e), measure the achievement of children with disabilities meeting the State's criteria under § 200.1(e)(2) against those standards; and
(iii)
If the State has adopted alternate academic achievement standards permitted in 34 CFR 200.1(d), measure the achievement of children with the most significant cognitive disabilities against those standards.
(d) Explanation to IEP Teams.
A State (or in the case of a district-wide assessment, an LEA) must provide IEP Teams with a clear explanation of the differences between assessments based on grade-level academic achievement standards and those based on modified or alternate academic achievement standards, including any effects of State or local policies on the student's education resulting from taking an alternate assessment based on alternate or modified academic achievement standards (such as whether only satisfactory performance on a regular assessment would qualify a student for a regular high school diploma).
(e) Inform parents.
A State (or in the case of a district-wide assessment, an LEA) must ensure that parents of students selected to be assessed based on alternate or modified academic achievement standards are informed that their child's achievement will be measured based on alternate or modified academic achievement standards.
(f) Reports.
An SEA (or, in the case of a district-wide assessment, an LEA) must make available to the public, and report to the public with the same frequency and in the same detail as it reports on the assessment of nondisabled children, the following:
(1)
The number of children with disabilities participating in regular assessments, and the number of those children who were provided accommodations (that did not result in an invalid score) in order to participate in those assessments.
(2)
The number of children with disabilities, if any, participating in alternate assessments based on grade-level academic achievement standards.
(3)
The number of children with disabilities, if any, participating in alternate assessments based on modified academic achievement standards.
(4)
The number of children with disabilities, if any, participating in alternate assessments based on alternate academic achievement standards.
(5)
Compared with the achievement of all children, including children with disabilities, the performance results of children with disabilities on regular assessments, alternate assessments based on grade-level academic achievement standards, alternate assessments based on modified academic achievement standards, and alternate assessments based on alternate academic achievement standards if—
(i)
The number of children participating in those assessments is sufficient to yield statistically reliable information; and
(ii)
Reporting that information will not reveal personally identifiable information about an individual student on those assessments.
(g) Universal design.
An SEA (or, in the case of a district-wide assessment, an LEA) must, to the extent possible, use universal design principles in developing and administering any assessments under this section.