A Mid-Year Transfer, a Partial ELA Test, and an IEP That Says 'Read Aloud'
Rosa Medina coordinates testing for a K–8 district. The Smarter Balanced summative window runs April 21 through May 23. On April 28, Daniel, a seventh grader, enrolls from a district two counties away. His cumulative file shows that his previous school administered the Smarter Balanced ELA computer-adaptive test to him on April 8, but that he missed the performance-task sessions on April 15 and 16 because of illness; that district's window closed on April 18. Daniel's IEP lists 'read aloud of all printed materials, including tests' and 'extended time.' His new case manager argues that Daniel should simply be given the entire ELA test at the new school so that he has a complete, usable score. A resource teacher adds that, because the IEP says all printed materials, she intends to read the reading passages aloud to Daniel during the test. A paraeducator has also asked whether she may explain an unfamiliar word if Daniel gets stuck. The principal wants all three questions settled before the first testing block on Monday.
1. Should the new district administer the full Smarter Balanced ELA test to Daniel? Explain the rule, the verification steps, and who decides.
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No. A student is assessed once per content area per school year, and the resulting score belongs to that administration rather than to whichever school the student later attends. Daniel already sat for the ELA computer-adaptive test in the prior district. Re-administering the whole test would create a second record for the same content area, produce a result that does not reflect one standardized administration, and would be treated as a testing irregularity.
The correct sequence is verification before action. The site coordinator should confirm with the prior district's CAASPP coordinator and the LEA-level coordinator what actually happened to Daniel's test in the test delivery system: was the test closed, will a score be produced, and is the record attached to Daniel's SSID? A missed performance task does not authorize a restart by itself, and the new district's open window is irrelevant - a window defines when testing may occur, not who may be retested.
If the records genuinely show no valid administration and no score, Rosa should not decide alone. She should route the question to the LEA coordinator and the California Department of Education before any retest, and document each step in writing, including who was contacted and what they advised.
2. How should the team handle the IEP language 'read aloud of all printed materials' with respect to the ELA reading passages?
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The IEP must be implemented, but IEP wording does not override the CAASPP accessibility rules. The team's first step is to compare each IEP support against the current Accessibility Matrix, which is updated annually, and against the grade seven ELA rules. Reading the literary or informational passage aloud is not a permitted ELA support at any grade, because the passages are the reading construct itself. A test administrator who reads them changes what the test measures and commits an irregularity that can invalidate Daniel's score. The phrase 'all printed materials' cannot be read as authorizing it.
What is permitted should be identified positively rather than by inference: extended time, breaks, a separate setting, read-aloud of test directions where the matrix allows it, and any other listed support that applies to ELA. Because the team wrote a broad accommodation that does not map cleanly onto the state test, the case manager should reconvene the IEP team, or amend through the normal IEP process, to name the specific supports. Any requested support that is not on the matrix should go to the LEA coordinator before testing. The teacher's plan to read the passages must be stopped before Monday, and the decision should be documented with prior written notice to the parent.
3. May the paraeducator explain an unfamiliar word to Daniel during the test? What should she do instead, and what follow-up is required?
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No. Test administrators may read directions verbatim, manage the interface, provide documented supports, and handle logistics; they may not explain, define, translate, or interpret test content. Telling Daniel what a word means supplies the very skill the item measures, so it is coaching and a reportable irregularity even if it takes ten seconds.
The appropriate response when a student is stuck is procedural: encourage the student to do their best, remind them of available tools and strategies, offer a break, and let them move on and return later. If Daniel's difficulty is a pattern suggesting a missing support, that is a conversation for after the test. The IEP team and the coordinator can then review whether a permitted support, such as a documented read-aloud of directions or a separate setting, was missing from the plan.
Follow-up matters. The paraeducator should be given a short pre-test briefing on what she may and may not say, and if a clarification was in fact given, the incident should be reported to the LEA coordinator rather than quietly forgotten.