Section 281.31.8. Baseline evaluation and annual assessment.

         31.8(1) When required. When a parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian of a child who is at least seven years old by September 15 provides private instruction to a child without the assistance or supervision of a validly licensed Iowa practitioner as required by law and these rules and the parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian does not hold a valid Iowa practitioner license, the child is subject to initial baseline evaluation and an annual assessment every year thereafter.

A child who is at least seven years old by September 15 and who begins a program of competent private instruction and is subject to the annual assessment requirement shall be administered a baseline evaluation for the purposes of obtaining educational data. The baseline evaluation and annual assessment shall be taken by May 1.

The parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian may select standardized testing, portfolio assessment, or submittal of a report card from an accredited correspondence school for purposes of fulfilling the baseline evaluation and annual assessment requirements of the law.

         31.8(2) Standardized testing.

            a.               A child’s parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian who chooses standardized testing for the purpose of fulfilling the assessment requirements of the law shall select an instrument approved by the department. The department shall publish an approved list of standardized testing instruments each year. In the event that the parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian of a child subject to the annual assessment requirement wishes to have the child take a standardized test not included on the department’s published list, the parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian shall request permission of the director of the department of education to use a different test. The decision of the director shall be final. Braille or large print editions of any approved test shall be made available for vision-impaired children. Testing norms are available for vision- and hearing-impaired children.

            b.               A child subject to the annual assessment requirement who takes a standardized test shall take a grade level form of the test that corresponds most closely to the child’s chronological age unless permission is granted by the test administrator to take another grade level form of the test. When a parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian requests another form of the test, the test administrator shall make a decision based upon the following:

             (1)             A review of the instructional materials used by the child in the education program;

             (2)             The results of curriculum-based measurement techniques including the administering of probes; and

             (3)             A review of current samples of the child’s work product.

The decision of the test administrator as to the appropriate grade level form of the standardized test to be taken shall be final.

A child whose educational program and instructional materials are designed for students in grades 1 through 5 shall, at a minimum, be tested in the areas of reading, language, and mathematics. A child whose educational program and instructional materials are designed for students in grades 6 through 12 shall, at a minimum, be tested in the areas of reading or literary materials, language or written expression, mathematics or quantitative thinking, science, and social studies.

If retesting is desired, a different form of the same test or a different test shall be administered to the child sufficiently in advance to allow for processing of the test results prior to the first day of classes of the succeeding school year of the resident school district.

            c.               Testing times and sites.

             (1)             Standardized test results are normed against a population taking the same test at approximately the same time of year. Norms for the tests exist for fall, winter, and spring. Because the annual assessment is used, in part, to determine whether the child has made at least six months’ progress since the previous test, standardized tests used for determining whether adequate progress has been achieved shall be taken annually at approximately the same time each year.

             (2)             The school district of residence of the child shall annually, by October 1, send notification of the following to the parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian who has selected standardized testing:

            1.      The times and dates when standardized tests will be administered by the school district and the area education agency over the school year, including all testing times, and that a school district or area education agency will administer standardized tests at the child’s home when so requested;

            2.      A data sheet showing the costs associated with the tests offered by the school district and area education agency; and

            3.      A reply form which the parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian shall complete to indicate the date, location, and test selected, including the grade level form of the test; whether the parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian wishes to be present for testing; and any special requests such as Braille or large print forms of the test.

            d.               Unless the child is under dual enrollment, the parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian who has selected the standardized testing option shall timely reimburse the school district for the cost of testing the child.

         31.8(3) Portfolio assessment or evaluation. A parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian of a child subject to the annual assessment requirement may arrange to have an appropriately licensed Iowa practitioner review a portfolio of evidence of the child’s progress annually by May 1, subject to the following requirements:

            a.               Portfolio evaluator. A single evaluator shall be designated by the parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian who has selected the portfolio evaluation option for annual assessment. The evaluator so identified shall be approved by the superintendent of the local school district or the superintendent’s designee and shall hold a valid Iowa practitioner license or teacher certificate appropriate to the ages and grade levels of the children whose portfolios are being assessed.

A portfolio evaluator who holds an elementary classroom endorsement may assess children in grades 1 through 6. A portfolio evaluator who holds an elementary content endorsement may assess children in grades 1 through 8. A portfolio evaluator who holds a secondary content endorsement may assess children in grades 5 through 12. A person with a current substitute teacher’s license who produces evidence of a previously held Iowa license with classroom or content endorsements may assess children within the same grade level restrictions as that of a person with a current Iowa license with classroom or content endorsements.

A portfolio evaluator shall not evaluate the portfolios of more than 25 students per year without permission of the director of the department of education.

            b.               Contents of portfolio. The child’s portfolio shall contain evidence of academic progress in the minimum curriculum areas of reading, language arts, and mathematics if the child is in grades 1 through 5. For children in grades 6 through 12, the portfolio shall contain evidence in the minimum curriculum areas of reading, language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.

For each curriculum area, the portfolio shall include a book of lesson plans, a diary, or other written record indicating the subject matter taught and activities in which the child has been engaged, and an outline of the curriculum used by the child. The portfolio may also include a list of, a reference to, or material from the textbooks and resource materials used by the child in each subject area.

The portfolio shall also include copies of any tests or other formal and informal assessment instruments used to measure student progress over the current academic year, a copy of the baseline evaluation, and the most recent assessment report of the student’s annual progress.

For each subject area to be evaluated, the portfolio shall include examples of the student’s work and may include self-assessments by the student.

            c.               The parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian of a child subject to the annual assessment requirement who has a physical or mental disability so significant that the results of a standardized test would be meaningless for assessment purposes may request the department’s approval of an alternative evaluation.

         31.8(4) Report card from accredited correspondence school. For a child subject to annual assessment who is enrolled as a student of a correspondence school that is a member of an accrediting association recognized by the federal Department of Education and accredited for elementary and secondary education, the district of residence and the department shall accept the annual report of progress (report card) sent by the correspondence school to the child’s parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian if the annual report of progress includes a listing of subjects taken and grades received. A passing grade in all content areas for which annual assessment is required shall be deemed evidence of adequate progress for the purpose of annual assessment.