[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 34, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 34CFR200.3]

[Page 442-443]
 
                           TITLE 34--EDUCATION
 
                  CHAPTER II--OFFICE OF ELEMENTARY AND
              SECONDARY EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
 
PART 200_TITLE I_IMPROVING THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF THE DISADVANTAGED
--Table of Contents
 
    Subpart A_Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local Educational 
                                Agencies
 
Sec. 200.3  Designing State Academic Assessment Systems.

    (a)(1) For each grade and subject assessed, a State's academic 
assessment system must--
    (i) Address the depth and breadth of the State's academic content 
standards under Sec. 200.1(b);
    (ii) Be valid, reliable, and of high technical quality;
    (iii) Express student results in terms of the State's student 
academic achievement standards; and
    (iv) Be designed to provide a coherent system across grades and 
subjects.
    (2) A State may include in its academic assessment system under 
Sec. 200.2 either or both--
    (i) Criterion-referenced assessments; and

[[Page 443]]

    (ii) Assessments that yield national norms, provided that, if the 
State uses only assessments referenced against national norms at a 
particular grade, those assessments--
    (A) Are augmented with additional items as necessary to measure 
accurately the depth and breadth of the State's academic content 
standards; and
    (B) Express student results in terms of the State's student academic 
achievement standards.
    (b) A State that includes a combination of assessments as described 
in paragraph (a)(2) of this section, or a combination of State and local 
assessments, in its State assessment system must demonstrate in its 
State plan that the system has a rational and coherent design that--
    (1) Identifies the assessments to be used;
    (2) Indicates the relative contribution of each assessment towards--
    (i) Ensuring alignment with the State's academic content standards; 
and
    (ii) Determining the adequate yearly progress of each school and 
LEA; and
    (3) Provides information regarding the progress of students relative 
to the State's academic standards in order to inform instruction.
    (c) A State that includes local assessments in the system described 
in Sec. 200.2(b) must--
    (1) Establish technical criteria to ensure that each local 
assessment meets the requirements of paragraphs (a)(1) and (c)(2) of 
this section;
    (2) Demonstrate in its State plan that all local assessments used 
for this purpose--
    (i) Are equivalent to one another and to State assessments, where 
they exist, in their content coverage, difficulty, and quality;
    (ii) Have comparable validity and reliability with respect to groups 
of students described in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v) of the Act; and
    (iii) Provide unbiased, rational, and consistent determinations of 
the annual progress of schools and LEAs within the State;
    (3) Review and approve each local assessment to ensure that it meets 
or exceeds the State's technical criteria in paragraph (c)(1) of this 
section and the requirements in paragraph (c)(2) of this section; and
    (4) Be able to aggregate, with confidence, data from local 
assessments to determine whether the State has made adequate yearly 
progress.
    (d) A State's academic assessment system may rely exclusively on 
local assessments only if it meets the requirements of Sec. 200.4.

(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(3))

[67 FR 45040, July 5, 2002]