[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 62 (Friday, March 31, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19286-19289]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-06697]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2023-OESE-0043]


Request for Information Regarding the Innovative Assessment 
Demonstration Authority

AGENCY: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of 
Education.

ACTION: Request for information.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Education (Department) is requesting 
information on successful approaches to innovative assessment 
implementation that can encourage State educational agencies (SEAs) to 
pursue the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) and 
improve statewide assessments. We will use this information to inform 
our implementation of IADA, under title I, part B of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student 
Succeeds Act (ESEA).

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before May 1, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments to this request for information (RFI) 
through the Federal eRulemaking Portal

[[Page 19287]]

at regulations.gov. Information on using Regulations.gov, including 
instructions for accessing agency documents, submitting comments, and 
viewing the docket, is available on the site, under ``FAQ.'' Comments 
submitted by hand delivery, fax, email, or after the comment period 
will not be accepted. However, if you require an accommodation or 
cannot otherwise submit your comments via regulations.gov, please 
contact the program contact person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT. To ensure that the Department does not receive duplicate 
copies, please submit your comments only one time. To ensure that your 
comments have maximum effect in informing the Department's knowledge 
base of innovations in assessments, we encourage you to clearly 
identify the question number that each comment addresses. Additionally, 
please include the Docket ID at the top of your comments.
    Privacy Note: The Department's policy is generally to make comments 
received from members of the public available for public viewing on the 
Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Therefore, 
commenters should be careful to include in their comments only 
information that they wish to make publicly available. Commenters 
should not include in their comments any information that identifies 
other individuals or that permits readers to identify other 
individuals. The Department reserves the right to redact at any time 
any information that identifies other individuals, includes information 
that would allow readers to identify other individuals, or includes 
threats of harm to another person.
    This is an RFI only. This RFI is not a request for proposals (RFP) 
or a promise to issue an RFP or a notice inviting applications. This 
RFI does not commit the Department to contract for any supply or 
service whatsoever. Further, we are not seeking proposals and will not 
accept unsolicited proposals. The Department will not pay for any 
information or administrative costs that you may incur in responding to 
this RFI. The documents and information submitted in response to this 
RFI become the property of the U.S. Government and will not be 
returned.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patrick Rooney, U.S. Department of 
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 3W202, Washington, DC 20202. 
Telephone: (202) 453-5514. Email: [email protected].
    If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and 
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The ESEA requires annual assessments of all 
students in grades 3-8 and assessments of students once in high school. 
When developed thoughtfully, these assessments are tools for advancing 
learning and promoting equity. When assessments are done poorly, in 
excess, or without a clear purpose, they divert time and resources from 
teaching and learning. The ESEA affords States important discretion in 
implementing assessment systems, including the opportunity to pilot new 
approaches or designs in summative assessments through IADA.
    IADA is authorized in section 1204 of the ESEA, and the 
implementing regulations for IADA are found in 34 CFR 200.104 through 
34 CFR 200.108.\1\ IADA regulations address the following topics: 
definitions (Sec.  200.104); application requirements (Sec.  200.105); 
selection criteria (Sec.  200.106); transition to statewide use (Sec.  
200.107); and extensions, waivers, and withdrawal of authority (Sec.  
200.108).
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    \1\ See: www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/subtitle-B/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-E/subject-group-ECFR9277b2b0db822d9?toc=1.
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    IADA seeks to help States interested in fostering and scaling up 
high-quality, innovative assessments that will replace their current 
summative assessments. An SEA would require this demonstration 
authority if the SEA proposes to develop an innovative assessment in 
any grade or subject that requires academic assessments (section 
1111(b)(2)(B) of the ESEA). Additionally, the SEA seeking IADA must 
first administer the assessment, initially, to students in only a 
subset of its local educational agencies (LEAs) or schools. Under IADA, 
schools participating in a pilot assessment would not have to also 
administer the current statewide assessment in that grade or subject to 
all students in those LEAs or schools. The State will scale up the 
innovative assessment over time, eventually using it statewide at the 
end of the demonstration authority. During the period of the 
demonstration authority, the results of IADA assessment must be used in 
the State's accountability system and the results must be included on 
State and local report cards.
    Since 2018, five States have been awarded IADA.\2\ Most recently, 
in 2021, the Department provided States with an opportunity \3\ to 
apply for the IADA, but no States applied. The Department has received 
informal feedback from several States and stakeholders that one reason 
SEAs are reluctant to apply for IADA stems from perceived barriers 
within the current IADA regulations.
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    \2\ New Hampshire and Louisiana in 2018; Georgia and North 
Carolina in 2019; and Massachusetts in 2020. Applications and Annual 
Reports from these States are available at: https://oese.ed.gov/offices/office-of-formula-grants/school-support-and-accountability/iada/.
    \3\ See: www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2021-00882/applications-for-new-authorities-innovative-assessment-demonstration-authority.
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    Section 1204(b)(2) of the ESEA establishes the five-year period for 
the demonstration authority, and ESEA section 1204(g) provides the 
Department with the discretion to extend the authority for an 
additional two years (if certain conditions are met as specified in 34 
CFR 200.108(a)(1)). The ESEA further permits the Secretary to grant 
additional waivers to a State to extend the State's IADA authority, and 
the Department's regulations clarify that such waivers would be granted 
one year at a time.\4\ Section 1204(e)(2)(A)(iv) of the ESEA requires 
that the State's application must demonstrate that the innovative 
assessment system will include valid and reliable results that are 
comparable to all students and for each subgroup of students described 
in section 1111(b)(2)(B)(xi), as compared to the results for such 
students on the State assessments under section 1111(b)(2). The 
Department has heard concerns that the regulations confine State 
ability to meet this comparability requirement in the statute such that 
it stifles innovation in new assessments. Section 200.105(b)(4)(i) 
currently provides the following five options for a State to meet the 
comparability requirement in the ESEA:
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    \4\ See: ESEA section 1204(j)(3) and 34 CFR 200.108(c)(2).
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    (A) Administering full assessments from both the innovative and 
statewide assessment systems to all students enrolled in participating 
schools, such that at least once in any grade span (i.e., 3-5, 6-8, or 
9-12) and subject for which there is an innovative assessment, a 
statewide assessment in the same subject would also be administered to 
all such students. As part of this determination, the innovative 
assessment and statewide assessment need not be administered to an 
individual student in the same school year.
    (B) Administering full assessments from both the innovative and 
statewide assessment systems to a demographically representative sample 
of all students and subgroups of students described in section 
1111(c)(2)

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of the Act, from among those students enrolled in participating 
schools, such that at least once in any grade span (i.e., 3-5, 6-8, or 
9-12) and subject for which there is an innovative assessment, a 
statewide assessment in the same subject would also be administered in 
the same school year to all students included in the sample.
    (C) Including, as a significant portion of the innovative 
assessment system in each required grade and subject in which both an 
innovative and statewide assessment are administered, items or 
performance tasks from the statewide assessment system that, at a 
minimum, have been previously pilot tested or field tested for use in 
the statewide assessment system.
    (D) Including, as a significant portion of the statewide assessment 
system in each required grade and subject in which both an innovative 
and statewide assessment are administered, items or performance tasks 
from the innovative assessment system that, at a minimum, have been 
previously pilot tested or field tested for use in the innovative 
assessment system.
    (E) An alternative method for demonstrating comparability that an 
SEA can demonstrate will provide for an equally rigorous and 
statistically valid comparison between student performance on the 
innovative assessment and the statewide assessment, including for each 
subgroup of students described in section 200.2(b)(11)(i)(A)-(I) and 
section 1111(b)(2)(B)(xi) and section 1111(h)(1)(C)(ii) of the Act.
    The Department is seeking comments on whether these five approaches 
are sufficient to support States as they consider developing an 
assessment for implementation under the IADA authority, what additional 
examples or models of measuring comparability the Department should 
consider, and information about ideas or practices States might use to 
demonstrate comparability under section 200.105(b)(4)(i)(E).
    In addition, current IADA regulations do not specify a timeline by 
which a State approved under IADA must begin to administer an 
operational IADA assessment in some schools or LEAs. Accordingly, the 
Department is seeking comments on whether the Department approving a 
State for IADA that includes a planning period would be helpful to the 
State in its development work.
    We will review every comment and, as described above, electronic 
comments in response to this RFI will be publicly available on the 
Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Please note that the 
Department will not directly acknowledge or respond to comments, 
including comments that contain specific questions or inquiries. 
Receipt of comments in response to this request for information does 
not imply that the Department has decided to issue guidance, technical 
assistance, or other resources.
    Detailed Questions: The Department invites stakeholders who are 
aware of policies and practices in educational assessment that are 
specifically relevant for innovation to address the following questions 
in their comments.
    1. The Department is interested in whether there are additional 
considerations or approaches to comparability, whether through changes 
to current IADA regulations or additional guidance (for elaborating on 
the ``other method'' in section 200.105(b)(4)(i)(E)), for the 
innovative assessment.
    a. Are there other methodologies that could be used as models to 
provide comparable results to current statewide assessments without 
compromising the innovative nature of the new assessments?
    b. Are there ways that a State could plan for an orderly transition 
from using the achievement standards for the current statewide 
assessments to achievement standards for the innovative assessment as 
it scales to statewide use?
    c. We note that ESEA section 1204(e)(2)(A)(iv) states that the IADA 
``generate results that are valid and reliable, and comparable, for all 
students and for each subgroup of students described in section 
1111(b)(2)(B)(xi), as compared to the results for such students on the 
State assessments under section 1111(b)(2);'' and ESEA section 
1204(e)(2)(A)(x) states that the IADA ``generate an annual, summative 
achievement determination, based on the aligned State academic 
achievement standards under section 1111(b)(1) and based on annual 
data, for each individual student.'' Within these statutory 
requirements, are there other issues with respect to comparability that 
the Department should clarify, either in regulation or guidance to help 
states meet this requirement? Please be specific in: (a) describing the 
issue; (b) identifying the proposed change to address the issue; and 
(c) identifying how the change will lead to a State being more likely 
to apply for IADA.
    2. Current IADA regulations do not specify a timeline by which a 
State approved under IADA must administer an operational IADA 
assessment in some schools or LEAs.
    a. Would a State be more likely to submit an IADA application if 
the Department explicitly provided one or two planning years, after the 
granting of IADA authority, before the State first administers an 
operational IADA assessment in some schools or LEAs?
    b. Noting that the State would need to have enough detail about its 
plan for the Department to grant IADA approval or pre-approval, please 
describe the benefit to the State that would be provided with one or 
two years of planning time as well as suggestions for the types of 
activities the State would undertake during the planning time?
    3. Please describe any other barriers in the Department's 
regulations that might preclude a State from applying for IADA. Please 
be specific in: (a) identifying the regulatory provision; (b) 
describing the issue; (c) identifying the proposed change to address 
the issue; and (d) identifying how the change will lead to a State 
being more likely to apply for IADA.
    In providing feedback, commenters are encouraged to cite published 
research on promising practices and methodologies for innovative 
assessment design and implementation. The Department is committed to 
improving the public's access to, and the discoverability of, education 
research. In service of that goal, we encourage responders to share any 
publications with us and we invite authors, those who hold copyright, 
or their authorized representatives to consider depositing eligible 
content into ERIC, the Institute of Education Sciences' bibliographic 
and full-text database of education research (https://eric.ed.gov/). 
More information about submitting content to ERIC, including our 
selection policy and how to access the online submission portal, can be 
found at https://eric.ed.gov/submit/.
    Accessible Format: On request to the program contact person listed 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities 
can obtain this document in an accessible format. The Department will 
provide the requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich 
Text Format (RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 file, 
braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc, or other accessible 
format.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this 
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published 
in the Federal Register, in

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text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF, you must have Adobe 
Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the site.
    You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department. The Department is committed to making its 
publications available to all members of the public. If you have 
difficulty understanding English, you may, free of charge, request 
language assistance services for Department information by calling 1-
800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) (TTY: 1-800-877-8339) or email us at 
[email protected].

James F. Lane,
Senior Advisor, Office of the Secretary Delegated the Authority to 
Perform the Functions and Duties of the Assistant Secretary Office of 
Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education.
[FR Doc. 2023-06697 Filed 3-30-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P