Series 6000: Instruction

6162.31 Test Exclusion

The Board of Education believes that the annual assessment of student and district progress is a vital component of the instructional process. It is recognized that some students may need to be excluded from the system-wide testing program and/or the statewide mastery testing program because of unique exceptionalities. All exclusions shall be made as a result of the Planning and Placement Team process. 

Special education students shall participate in mastery testing except in the rare case when their Planning and Placement Team determines that participation would be inappropriate and recommends the use of an alternative assessment as specified by the State Board of Education. 

Limited English proficient (LEP) students, including those also identified as requiring special education, who are in their first year of enrollment in a U.S. school and have been in attendance for one school year or less may be permitted to be exempt from one administration of the reading/language arts portion of the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) and the Connecticut Academic Progress Test (CAPT). These students must take the Language Assessment Scales (LSS-Links). No such exemption is permitted, based on federal guidelines, from the mathematics and science assessments of the CMT and CAPT. Accommodations, as provided in classroom instruction may be used. 

Limited English proficient students eligible for special education due to significant cognitive impairment must be tested on the CMT/CAPT Skills Checklist, regardless of the one school year exemption option. 

(cf. 6141.31 - Bilingual-Bicultural Education) 

( cf. 6141.311 - Limited English Proficiency Program) 

( cf. 6146.2 - Statewide Proficiency/Mastery Examinations) 

(cf. 6171 - Special Education) 

Legal References:

Connecticut General Statutes 

10-14n Statewide mastery examination. Conditions for reexamination. Limitation and use of test results.

10-140 Compensatory education grant. Financial statement of expenditures

10-14q Exceptions

Title VII of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994, P.L. 103-282 34 CFR, Part 200, Regulations appearing in Federal Register, 9-13-06.

Policy adopted: November 19, 2007

THOMASTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Thomaston, Connecticut