Accessibility Information
The SCDE is committed to making its electronic documents accessible for parents/guardians and other individuals with disabilities, and for parents/guardians whose native language is not English. All documents posted on this website are compliant with the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. § 794 (d)), as amended.
Assessment Resources for SC READY, EOCEP, SC-Alt, and ACCESS for ELLs®
Assessment brochures and resource documents are available for parents or guardians in alternate formats, such as large print, Braille, languages other than English, and oral translation. Alternate formats can be requested using the form linked below or from your child’s school.
Translations
For SC READY test administrations in 2023-24, SCDE has translated the Assessment Brochures for Students and Parents and the Sample Individual Student Report Template into the following languages: Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, English, Gujarati, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Russian, Tamil, Telugu, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.
SC READY Student and Parent Assessment Brochures
SC READY Writer's Checklist
Sample Individual Student Reports for SC READY
EOCEP Student and Parent Assessment Brochures
EOCEP Writer's Checklists
Sample Individual Student Reports for EOCEP
Sample ISRs for 2023-24
Score Report User's Guides
Alternate Format Request Form
If you would like to request a copy of an assessment brochure or a Sample Individual Student Report in an alternative format, please complete the Parent Resources Alternate Request Form. If you have any questions about resource document alternate format requests, please contact ResourceRequests@ed.sc.gov.
Additional Parent Resources
South Carolina Alternate Assessments (SC-Alt)
The South Carolina Alternate Assessment (SC-Alt) is an online computer-adaptive assessment that delivers all alternate assessment tests, including in ELA and Math in grades 3-8; Science in grades 4 and 6; and High School End-of-Course tests in English, Algebra, Biology, and US History and the Constitution. The SC-Alt is administered to students who meet the participation guidelines for alternate assessment.
For more information about the South Carolina Alternate Assessment, visit the SC-Alt portal. The SC-Alt Score Report Interpretive Guide for 2020-2021 is available in English and Spanish. The updated versions will be posted as soon as these documents become available.
ACCESS for ELLs® and Alternate ACCESS for ELLs®
States must administer an English language proficiency assessment to limited English proficient students in grades K through 12 in order to comply with the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, 20 USC 6301 et seq. (2002). For the 2022–23 school year, the assessment administered for this purpose will be ACCESS for ELLs® through the WIDA Consortium.
Alternate ACCESS for ELLs® is an assessment of English language proficiency for students in grades 1 through 12 who are classified as English language learners (ELLs) and have significant cognitive disabilities that prevent their meaningful participation in the ACCESS for ELLs® assessment. This assessment will also be available for those students who meet the criteria for an alternate assessment.
The WIDA website features a resource library that contains resources in multiple languages for parents and family members. Available resources explain the Individual Student Report of scores, what ACCESS is and why student a student takes this kind of assessment, as well as resources that can help families understand the range of WIDA assessments and what it means to be a multilingual learner.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.
The following information is an excerpt from the FERPA information provided by the U.S. Department of Education:
FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children's education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level. Students to whom the rights have transferred are "eligible students."
- Parents or eligible students have the right to inspect and review the student's education records maintained by the school. Schools are not required to provide copies of records unless, for reasons such as great distance, it is impossible for parents or eligible students to review the records. Schools may charge a fee for copies.
- Parents or eligible students have the right to request that a school correct records which they believe to be inaccurate or misleading. If the school decides not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student then has the right to a formal hearing. After the hearing, if the school still decides not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student has the right to place a statement with the record setting forth his or her view about the contested information.
- Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31):
- School officials with legitimate educational interest;
- Other schools to which a student is transferring;
- Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes;
- Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student;
- Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school;
- Accrediting organizations;
- To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena;
- Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and
- State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State law.
Schools may disclose, without consent, "directory" information such as a student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them. Schools must notify parents and eligible students annually of their rights under FERPA. The actual means of notification (special letter, inclusion in a PTA bulletin, student handbook, or newspaper article) is left to the discretion of each school.
Additional and updated information can be accessed on the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) Webpage.
The Department of Homeland Security definition of personally identifiable information or PII is:
Any information that permits the identity of an individual to be directly or indirectly inferred, including any information that is linked or linkable to that individual, regardless of whether the individual is a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, visitor to the U.S., or employee or contractor to the Department."
Some examples of PII may include driver’s license numbers, names, e-mail address, home address, social security numbers, passport numbers, biometrics, financial or medical records, criminal history, etc.
The U.S. Department of Labor definition of PII is:
"Any representation of information that permits the identity of an individual to whom the information applies to be reasonably inferred by either direct or indirect means. Further, PII is defined as information: (i) that directly identifies an individual (e.g., name, address, social security number or other identifying number or code, telephone number, email address, etc.) or (ii) by which an agency intends to identify specific individuals in conjunction with other data elements, i.e., indirect identification. (These data elements may include a combination of gender, race, birth date, geographic indicator, and other descriptors). Additionally, information permitting the physical or online contacting of a specific individual is the same as personally identifiable information. This information can be maintained in either paper, electronic or other media.
For SC READY and EOCEP test administrations in 2020-21, the SCDE translated the Assessment Brochures for Students and Parents and the Individual Student Report Template into Spanish, Simplified Chinese, and Russian. For 2021-22, translations into ten languages will be available for the brochures and the Individual Student Report templates.
