Education Services – Grade Two Diagnostic Assessment Apportionment

With the sunset of the Standardized Testing and Reporting Program, the requirement that students in grade two participate in summative assessment was eliminated.State law does not authorize the California Department of Education (CDE) to provide apportionment reimbursement to local educational agencies (LEAs) for grade two diagnostic assessments that are not on the listing generated by the CDE per California Education Code (EC) Section 60644. LEAs will receive a per pupil apportionment reimbursement amount only for students in grade two administered a EC 60644 CDE-identified diagnostic assessment. 

It is anticipated that the CDE will recommend a $2.52 per student LEA apportionment reimbursement rate to the State Board of Education in January 2015 for the CDE-identified grade two diagnostics tests administered during the 2014–15 school year at the option and cost of the LEA per EC Section 60644. The $1.2 million in savings realized from the elimination of the grade two standards-based achievement testing equally distributed for the approximate 475,000 students enrolled in grade two annually statewide equals approximately $2.52 per pupil. Apportionments are provided at a per pupil rate, not per individual subject tested. Assessment apportionments are not distributed until the following fiscal year when all testing for the previous year has been completed (i.e., LEAs will be reimbursed in 2015–16 for testing that occurs in 2014–15). The amount the LEA will be reimbursed for administering specified grade two diagnostic assessments will be added to the amount the LEA is to receive for CAASPP assessments administered and the total amount will be paid to the LEA in a single payment.

CDE has concluded their Request for Information (RFI) process, and the results are summarized in four tables each for English-Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics.