14 Del. Admin. Code § 101-12.0

Current through Reigster Vol. 28, No. 6, December 1, 2024

Section 101-12.0 - Invalidations and Special Exemptions

12.1 There may be invalidations for students taking any general or alternate assessments. An invalidation is a response to an incident, event, or situation that occurs during the administration of the assessments which may result in a statistically unreliable or invalid score report for a student. Invalidating a student's test eliminates the test results, and the student does not receive a valid score for accountability purposes, and the student is not counted as a participant in the assessment. The Department may invalidate any test under the following conditions:

12.1.1 A test security breach;

12.1.2 An improper or irregular administration resulting in unreliable scores, whether intentional or accidental; or

12.1.3 Student misconduct resulting in unreliable scores.

12.2 After reviewing the circumstances of an incident, the Department may elect only to document the above conditions as testing irregularities rather than to invalidate the test.

12.3 Reporting of events or situations that occur during assessment.

12.3.1 The school building principal or designee shall notify the District Test Coordinator in writing within 24 hours of incidents, events, or situations that the principal reasonably believes may result in an invalid score report for a student.

12.3.2 The District Test Coordinator shall notify the Department staff person assigned to the district or charter school for assessment security purposes as soon as the Coordinator learns of events or situations which may result in invalidation.

The District Test Coordinator shall submit an Incident Report Form within 3 business days of the events. Written reports from the building principal or designee and any staff must be included with the Incident Report.

12.3.3 The State Director of the Office of Assessment for the Department shall determine whether the reported events warrant invalidating a student's score and such decision shall be final.

12.4 There may be special exemptions for students in grades 3 through 8 and 11 for English Language Arts and Literacy and Mathematics; students in grades 5 and 8 in Science, and students taking a high school Biology course; and students in grades 4 through 8 and 11 in Social Studies.

12.4.1 A special exemption may be available when any 1 of the following applies:

12.4.1.1 The student is suffering from severe illness or injuries or the student has recently experienced severe traumatic events;

12.4.1.2 The student is medically admitted to, or is ordered by the court to attend an alternative program;

12.4.1.3 The student is serving time at an adult prison; or

12.4.1.4 Other situations identified by the school and evaluated and approved by the Department.

12.4.2 The District Test Coordinator shall submit a Request for Special Exemption to the State Director of the Office of Assessment at the Department according to the timeline published by the Department. A copy of the healthcare provider's statement shall be required for subsection 12.4.1.1 in the preceding subsection and shall be maintained as documentation at the school or district.

12.4.2.1 The State Director of the Office of Assessment shall convene a review committee of not less than 3 Department staff to review requests for special exemptions.

12.4.2.2 The Office of Assessment shall decide whether a request for a special exemption should be granted. The Office of Assessment shall notify the District Test Coordinator of the decision. The Office of Assessment decision shall be final.

12.4.3 Consequences of Special Exemptions.

12.4.3.1 Any special exemption granted by the Department is limited to the assessment period for which it was requested and does not carry forward to future assessment administrations.

12.4.3.2 Students who are granted a special exemption shall not be included in the participation rate calculation for school and district accountability pursuant to 14 DE Admin. Code 103, subsection 2.4.

14 Del. Admin. Code § 101-12.0

5 DE Reg. 2115 (05/01/02)
8 DE Reg. 425 (09/01/04)
10 DE Reg. 676 (10/01/06)
10 DE Reg. 1425 (03/01/07)
14 DE Reg. 1340 (06/01/11)
18 DE Reg. 556 (1/1/2015)
28 DE Reg. 220 (9/1/2024) (Final)