(a) Academic assessments. The BIE will implement a set of high quality student academic assessments in mathematics, reading or language arts, and science. As appropriations become available, BIE will implement an assessment in tribal civics.

(b) Requirements for academic assessments. The academic assessments must:

(1) Except with respect to alternate assessments for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, be:

(i) The same academic assessments used to measure the achievement of all BIE-funded school students; and

(ii) Administered to all BIE-funded school students, including the following highly-mobile student populations:

(A) Students with status as a migratory child;

(B) Students with status as a homeless child or youth;

(C) Students with status as a child in foster care;

(D) Students with status as a student with a parent who is a member of the armed forces on active duty or serves on full-time National Guard duty;

(2) Be aligned with the BIE's challenging academic standards, and provide coherent and timely information about student attainment of such standards and whether the student is performing at the student's grade level;

(3) Be used for purposes for which such assessments are valid and reliable, consistent with relevant, nationally recognized professional and technical testing standards; objectively measure academic achievement, knowledge, and skills; and use tests that do not evaluate or assess personal or family beliefs and attitudes, or publicly disclose personally identifiable information, except that this provision does not preclude the use of:

(i) Constructed-response, short answer, or essay questions; or

(ii) Items that require a student to analyze a passage of text or to express opinions;

(4) Be of adequate technical quality for each purpose required under the Act and consistent with the requirements of this section, the evidence of which will be made public, including on the BIE website;

(5) Be administered:

(i) In the case of mathematics and reading or language arts:

(A) In each of grades three (3) through eight (8); and

(B) At least once in grades nine (9) through twelve (12);

(ii) In the case of science, not less than one time during:

(A) Grades three (3) through five (5);

(B) Grades six (6) through nine (9); and

(C) Grades ten (10) through twelve (12); and

(iii) In the case of any other subject chosen by the BIE, at the discretion of the BIE;

(6) Involve multiple up-to-date measures of student academic achievement, including measures that assess higher-order thinking skills, such as critical thinking, reasoning, analysis, complex problem solving, effective communication, and understanding of challenging content, which may:

(i) Include valid and reliable measures of student academic growth at all achievement levels to help ensure that the assessment results could be used to improve student instruction; and

(ii) Be partially delivered in the form of portfolios, projects, or extended performance tasks;

(7) At the BIE's discretion, be administered through:

(i) A single summative assessment; or

(ii) Multiple Bureau-wide interim assessments during the course of the academic year that result in a single summative score that provides valid, reliable, and transparent information on student achievement or growth;

(8) Produce individual student interpretive, descriptive, and diagnostic reports, consistent with paragraph (b)(3) of this section, regarding achievement on such assessments that allow parents, teachers, principals, and other school leaders to understand and address the specific academic needs of students, and that are provided to parents, teachers, and school leaders, as soon as is practicable after the assessment is given, in an understandable and uniform format, and to the extent practicable, in a language that parents can understand;

(9) Enable results to be disaggregated:

(i) Within the Bureau and each BIE-funded school by:

(A) Each major racial and ethnic group;

(B) Economically disadvantaged students as compared to students who are not economically disadvantaged;

(C) Children with disabilities as defined in section 602(3) of the IDEA compared to children without disabilities;

(D) English proficiency status;

(E) Gender;

(F) Migrant status;

(G) Status as a homeless child or youth as defined in section 725(2) of title VII, subtitle B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as amended;

(H) Status as a child in foster care; and

(I) Status as a student with a parent who is a member of the armed forces on active duty or serves on full-time National Guard duty.

(ii) Disaggregation is not required in the cases in which the number of students in a subgroup is insufficient to yield statistically reliable information or the results would reveal personally identifiable information about an individual student;

(10) Enable itemized score analyses to be produced and reported, consistent with paragraph (b)(3) of this section, to BIE-funded schools, so that parents, teachers, principals, other school leaders, and administrators can interpret and address the specific academic needs of students as indicated by the students' achievement on assessment items; and

(11) Be designed and developed:

(i) To be valid and accessible for use by all students, including students with disabilities and English learners; and

(ii) To the extent practicable, using the principles of universal design for learning. For the purposes of this section, “universal design for learning” means a scientifically valid framework for guiding educational practice that:

(A) Provides flexibility in the ways information is presented, in the ways students respond or demonstrate knowledge and skills, and in the ways students are engaged; and

(B) Reduces barriers in instruction, provides appropriate accommodations, supports, and challenges, and maintains high achievement expectations for all students, including students with disabilities and English learners.

(c) Exception for advanced mathematics in middle school. The BIE will determine the use of this exemption in the Agency Plan.

(d) Computer adaptive assessments.

(1) BIE retains the right to develop and administer computer adaptive assessments as the assessments described in this section, provided the computer adaptive assessments meet the requirements of this section, except that:

(i) The requirement that the same academic assessments must be used to measure the achievement of all BIE-funded school students and that the assessments must be administered to all BIE-funded school students may not be interpreted to require that all students taking the computer adaptive assessment be administered the same assessment items; and

(ii) Such assessment:

(A) Must measure, at a minimum, each student's academic proficiency based on the challenging academic standards for the student's grade level and growth toward such standards; and

(B) May measure the student's level of academic proficiency and growth using items above or below the student's grade level, including for use as part of the accountability system.

(2) In developing and administering computer adaptive assessments for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and English learners:

(i) The BIE will ensure that the computer adaptive assessments for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities:

(A) Assess a student's academic achievement based on the challenging academic content standards for the grade in which the student is enrolled;

(B) Meet the requirements of this section and §§30.106 through 30.110, including §30.108, except the assessments are not required to meet the requirements of paragraph (d)(1)(ii) of this section; and

(C) Assess the student's academic achievement to measure, in the subject being assessed, whether the student is performing at the student's grade level; and

(ii) The BIE may provide for the use of computer adaptive assessments that:

(A) Meet the requirements §§30.106 through 30.110 except the assessments are not required to meet the requirements of paragraph (d)(1)(ii) of this section; and

(B) Assess the student's English language proficiency, which may include growth towards such proficiency, in order to measure the student's acquisition of English.

(e) Peer review and future guidance on academic assessments.

(1) The BIE assessments required by these regulations must undergo peer review with the exception of tribal civics and non-content Native American language academic assessments.

(2) BIE will develop guidance on the use of academic assessments in a Native American language for purposes of compliance with these regulatory requirements, including evidence of technical validity and reliability, in consultation with the Department of Education, Tribes, and other stakeholders.

(f) Rule of construction on parental rights. Nothing in this section may be construed as preempting tribal law at a tribally controlled school regarding the decision of a parent to not have the parent's child participate in the academic assessments under this paragraph (f).

(g) Limitation on assessment time. The Secretary may set a target limit on the aggregate amount of time devoted to the administration of assessments for each grade, expressed as a percentage of annual instructional hours.

(h) Students in Native American language schools or programs. The BIE is not required to assess, using an assessment written in English, student achievement in meeting the BIE's challenging State academic standards in reading/language arts, mathematics, or science for a student who is enrolled in a school or program that provides instruction primarily in a Native American language if:

(1) The program or school provides an assessment in the Native American language to all students in the program or school and:

(i) Submits evidence to the BIE according to BIE guidelines developed under paragraph (e)(2) of this section regarding such assessment's technical validity and reliability for the purposes for which it is intended; and

(ii) BIE submits this evidence to Department of Education for approval; and

(2) For an English learner the BIE continues to assess the English language proficiency of such English learner, using the annual English language proficiency assessment required under §30.110, and provides appropriate services to enable him or her to attain proficiency in English.