25 C.F.R. §§ 30.106–30.110

The participation of all students, generally;

The participation of students with disabilities, as detailed in §§ 30.107 and 30.108; and

The participation of English learners, as detailed in § 30.109.

The BIE and BIE-funded schools must ensure that students with disabilities have the appropriate accommodations, such as interoperability with, and ability to use, assistive technology, for students with disabilities, including students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, necessary to measure the academic achievement of such children relative to the BIE's challenging academic standards or alternate academic achievement standards described in § 30.104(d) and (e).

The Secretary must include students with disabilities in all assessments, with appropriate accommodations. For purposes of this section, students with disabilities, collectively, are:

Appropriate accommodations for those students described in paragraph (b) of this section will be determined by:

The BIE and school must ensure that general and special education teachers, paraprofessionals, teachers of English learners, specialized instructional support personnel, and other appropriate staff receive necessary training to administer assessments and know how to administer assessments, including, as necessary, alternate assessments, and know how to make use of appropriate accommodations during assessment for all students with disabilities, consistent with section 1111(b)(2)(B)(vii)(III) of the Act.

The BIE and school must ensure that the use of appropriate accommodations under paragraph (c) of this section does not deny a student with a disability:

Alternate assessments aligned with alternate academic achievement standards. The BIE will provide for alternate assessments aligned with the challenging academic content standards for the grade in which the student is enrolled and alternate academic achievement standards described in § 30.104(d) and (e) for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. The BIE must:

Responsibility under IDEA. Subject to the authority and requirements for the IEP team for a child with a disability under section 614(d)(1)(A)(i)(VI)(bb) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1414(d)(1)(A)(i)(VI)(bb)), such team, consistent with the guidelines established by the BIE and required under section 612(a)(16)(C) of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(16)(C)) and paragraph (a)(1) of this section, will determine when a child with a significant cognitive disability may participate in an alternate assessment aligned with the alternate academic achievement standards.

English learners. English learners must be:

Language or form of assessment. Notwithstanding paragraph (a)(2) of this section, BIE-funded schools must provide for assessments (using tests in English) of reading or language arts of any student who has attended school in the United States for three (3) or more consecutive school years, except that if the BIE-funded school determines, on a case-by-case individual basis, that academic assessments in another language or form would likely yield more accurate and reliable information on what the student knows and can do, the BIE-funded school may make a determination to assess the student in the appropriate language other than English for a period that does not exceed two (2) additional consecutive years, provided that the student has not yet reached a level of English language proficiency sufficient to yield valid and reliable information on what the student knows and can do on tests (written in English) of reading or language arts. This requirement does not permit either the BIE or BIE-funded schools to exempt English learners from participating in the BIE's assessment system.

BIE responsibilities. The BIE must:

Exception for recently arrived English learners. With respect to recently arrived English learners who have been enrolled in a school in one of the 50 States in the United States or the District of Columbia for less than twelve (12) months, the BIE may choose to:

English learner subgroup. With respect to a student previously identified as an English learner and for not more than four (4) years after the student ceases to be identified as an English learner, the BIE may include the results of the student's academic content assessments within the English learner subgroup of the subgroups of students as defined in § 30.101 for the purposes of the BIE-determined accountability system.

The BIE will ensure that BIE-funded schools will administer a valid and reliable annual assessment of English proficiency to all English learners in the schools served by the BIE.

The BIE will require BIE-funded schools to use the assessment to assess annually the English language proficiency, including reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills, of all English learners in kindergarten through grade twelve (12).

The English language proficiency assessment must be aligned with the BIE's English language proficiency standards described in § 30.104(f).

The assessment will be implemented, developed, and used consistent with the requirements of this section.

The assessment will provide coherent and timely information about each student's attainment of the BIE's English language proficiency standards to parents.

If an English learner has a disability that precludes assessment of the student in one or more domains of the English language proficiency assessment such that there are no appropriate accommodations for the affected domain(s) (e.g., a non-verbal English learner who because of an identified disability cannot take the speaking portion of the assessment), as determined, on an individualized basis, by the student's IEP team, 504 team, or by the individual or team designated by the BIE-funded school to make these decisions under title II of the ADA, then the BIE must assess the student's English language proficiency based on the remaining domains in which it is possible to assess the student.

The BIE must provide for an alternate English language proficiency assessment for English learners with the most significant cognitive disabilities who cannot participate in the assessment under this paragraph (g) even with appropriate accommodations.

BIE will provide technical assistance, including training teachers on how to administer assessments, in regard to English language proficiency assessments and alternate English language proficiency assessments to BIE-funded schools as requested in writing.