Idaho Department of Education

Students with disabilities take the same statewide assessments as their peers without disabilities. It is important to understand that an IEP team does not have the authority to exempt a student with a disability from participating in statewide assessments. The expectation is that every student with a disability participate in all statewide assessments in one of the following ways:

1. Regular assessment without accommodations;
2. Regular assessment with accommodations; or
3. Alternate assessment (only for those students with the most significant cognitive impairments)

Each statewide assessment has its own list of and guidance on allowable accommodations:

• ACCESS for ELs
• College Entrance Exams
• Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI)
• Idaho Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) (The universal tools, designated supports, and accommodations allowable on the ISAT assessments are outlined in the Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines (UAAG) posted on the Idaho Portal, under Resources.)
• National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)

Alternate Assessments (AAs) are a statewide testing option intended only for those students with the most significant cognitive impairments, in lieu of the general education assessment, with or without supports and accommodations. Participation in AAs reflects the pervasive nature of a significant cognitive impairment and requires that a student meet all participation criteria. Students with the most significant cognitive impairments represent about 1.0% of the total student population (2018 Idaho Special Education Manual, p. xxxii.)

Alternate assessments are intended only for those students with the most significant cognitive impairments, representing about 1% of the total student population. Significant cognitive impairment is defined as follows:

A designation given to a small number of students with disabilities for the purposes of their participation in AAs. Having a significant cognitive impairment is not solely determined by an IQ test score, nor based on a specific disability category, but rather a complete understanding of the complex needs of a student. Students with significant cognitive impairments have a disability or multiple disabilities that significantly impact their adaptive skills and intellectual functioning. These students have adaptive skills well below average in two or more skill areas and intellectual functioning well below average (typically associated with an IQ below 55) (Idaho Special Education Manual).

A student’s IEP team uses four criteria to determine if a student qualifies for an alternate assessment at the annual IEP team meeting. The student must meet all four criteria to qualify for an alternate assessment, which are listed below. Once a student qualifies, he/she will take the IDAA in all content areas. The four IDAA participation criteria are listed below:

1. The student has a significant cognitive impairment (see the definition above).
2. The student is receiving academic instruction that is aligned with the Idaho Extended Content Standards.
1. The student’s instruction and IEP goals/objectives/benchmarks address knowledge and skills that are appropriate and challenging for the student.
3. The student’s course of study is primarily adaptive-skills oriented, typically not measured by state or district assessments.
1. Adaptive skills are essential to living independently and functioning safely in daily life, and include, but are not limited to motor skills, socialization, communication, personal care, self-direction, functional academics, and personal health and safety.
4. The student requires extensive, direct, individualized instruction and substantial supports to achieve measurable gains in the grade- and age-appropriate curriculum.
1. The student consistently requires individualized instruction in core academic and adaptive skills at a substantially lower level relative to other peers with disabilities.
2. It is extremely difficult for the student to acquire, maintain, generalize, and apply academic and adaptive skills in multiple settings, across all content areas, even with high-quality, extensive/intensive, pervasive, frequent, and individualized instruction.
3. The student requires pervasive supports, substantially adapted materials, and individualized methods of accessing information in alternative ways to acquire, maintain, generalize, demonstrate, and transfer skills across multiple settings (Idaho Special Education Manual, 2018).

There are also 14 non-participation criteria which should not be used as the basis for qualifying a student for the IDAA. Students shall not qualify to participate in an alternate assessment solely based on any of the following reasons:

• Having a disability
• Poor attendance or extended absences
• Native language/social, cultural, or economic differences
• Expected poor performance or past basic/below basic performance on the regular education assessment
• Academic and other services a student receives
• Educational environment or instructional setting
• Percent of time receiving special education services
• English Language Learner (ELL) status
• Low reading level/achievement level
• Anticipated disruptive behavior
• Impact of student scores on the accountability system
• Administrative decision
• Anticipated emotional distress
• Need for accommodations (e.g., assistive technology/AAC) to participate in the assessment (Idaho Special Education Manual, 2018).

The Idaho Alternate Assessment (IDAA) is the alternate assessment ISAT option for students with the most significant cognitive impairments who meet all 4 alternate assessment participation criteria. The IDAA participation criteria are outlined in the How does a student qualify for an alternate assessment? FAQ. Students who qualify for the IDAA must take the IDAA in all content areas. Students may not take the IDAA in one content area and take the ISAT in another content area.

ISAT and IDAA Comparsion

The IDAA measures student achievement on the grade-level Idaho Extended Content Standards Core Content Connectors (CCCs). The Idaho Extended Content Standards CCCs are aligned with the Idaho Content Standards, but have been reduced in depth, breadth, and complexity. The Idaho Extended Content Standards CCCs are located in the Files section of this page and on the Idaho Content Standards webpage under each relevant content – ELA, Math, and Science

The IDAA is administered online to qualifying students using the same test delivery system as for the ISAT. Specific information for administering the IDAA in ELA, Math and Science is located on the ISAT Portal.

Idaho participates in a multi-state consortium with our testing vendor that has been developing a computer-adaptive alternate assessment. In spring 2021, Idaho will administer the operational field test for the computer-adaptive IDAA in ELA and Math. The IDAA Science will be a field this this year, so students will not receive a score. One exciting feature of the new IDAA is the use of human voice recordings instead of the computer audio function.

There are some students with the most significant cognitive impairments who qualify for the IDAA, but whose disabilities are such that they do not have a consistent, observable way to respond or communicate. The expectation is that even these students participate in the assessment, but they may not need to complete the entire assessment. The process for accounting for these students includes completing the student response check (SRC) and the early stopping rule (ESR). For the student response check, the teacher administers three content-neutral items to the student to determine if the student has a consistent observable response. The student may response by speaking, using pictures, pointing, gesturing, using a mouse or trackpad, using eye-gaze, etc.

After administering the student response check, regardless of how the student responds to each item, the teacher will administer the first four items on the IDAA. If the student responds to even on of the first four items, either correctly or incorrectly, the student will take the entire IDAA. If the student has not response to the first four times because of communication limitation, the teacher will invoke the early stopping rule, submit the student’s test, and the student will receive the lowest score possible.

The IRI is administered to all students in kindergarten through 3rd grade in the fall and spring of each school year. Most students will disabilities will take the current IRI without accommodations, although the IRI Test Administration Manual (TAM) outlines universal tools and designated support that can be used by any student. The IRI TAM contains accommodations guidance specific for students who are deaf and hard of hearing or have a visual impairment including blindness in Appendices E and F, respectively. Idaho does not currently have an alternate IRI for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. However, districts may choose to administer an alternative literacy assessment to these students, which can determine the student’s current literacy skills and guide IEP teams in developing literacy-based IEP goals and objectives. Core Phonics is one example of an alternative assessment for use with students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. Alternative literacy assessments will not produce early literacy equivalent ratings, nor are these ratings submitted to the Idaho Department of Education through the ISEE test results file. For more information about the IRI, visit the Idaho Reading Indicator page.

All English language learners (ELs) are required to take the ACCESS assessment, unless they have exited the program. Accommodations are available to ELs with disabilities when specified on the student’s IEP or Section 504 Plan and when the student requires the accommodation(s) to participate in the ACCESS in a meaningful and appropriate way. The IEP or Section 504 team should meet and review the accommodations and supports allowable on the ACCESS prior to testing. It is the IEP team’s responsibility to choose appropriate tools, supports, and accommodations based on the student’s needs and what is allowable on the ACCESS and/or specific language domain(s). Visit the WIDA Accessibility and Accommodations webpage to download the WIDA Accessibility and Accommodations Supplement for specifics on ACCESS allowable accommodations.

WIDA offers the Alternate ACCESS for EL students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. Only those EL students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who meet all of the IDAA participation criteria are permitted to take the Alternate ACCESS, as determined by the student’s IEP team. The IDAA participation criteria are outlined in the How does a student qualify for an alternate assessment? FAQ. Visit the Idaho Department of Education English Language Proficiency Assessment webpage for more information.

Most students with disabilities take the state-sponsored SAT with or without accommodations to meet the college entrance exam graduation requirement. Schools may independently arrange ACT or ACCUPLACER testing for students with disabilities as an alternative option. Very few students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who meet the alternate assessment participation criteria are exempt from the college entrance exam graduation requirement. A student and his/her IEP team should always discuss the student’s participation in the college entrance exam and the allowable accommodations.

Students with disabilities who are chosen for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are expected to participate. Students with disabilities may participate in the NAEP without or with accommodations. Only those students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who qualify for the IDAA are exempted from participating in the NAEP. Information about the accommodations allowable on the NAEP are located on the NAEP Accommodations webpage. Visit the Idaho Department of Education National and International Assessments webpage for more information about NAEP.