South Carolina Assessment Letter 2
July 30, 2001
Honorable Inez Tenenbaum
State Superintendent of Education
State Department of Education
1429 Senate Street
Columbia, South Carolina 29201
Dear Mrs. Tenenbaum:
I am writing to inform you that the U.S. Department of Education is granting a waiver of timeline to the South Carolina Department of Education in order to give the State additional time to meet the assessment requirements of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This waiver is for the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 school years and will expire on June 30, 2003.
The waiver is intended to allow South Carolina time to develop: (1) high school performance standards, (2) a high school assessment that is aligned with the State’s content and performance standards, and (3) documentation of the technical quality of the high school assessment, and to produce disaggregated reports of the results from the high school assessment by the categories required by Title I.
The waiver will permit South Carolina to continue receiving Title I funds while conducting activities to design and implement the assessment. Before the waiver expires, South Carolina must provide the Department with evidence that the South Carolina Department of Education has completed the high school assessment and met the requirements for alignment, technical quality, and disaggregated reporting.
We would like to acknowledge that we have received technical documentation for the Palmetto Achievement Tests of English Language Arts and Mathematics (Grades 3 through 8) as well as a sample of a statewide-disaggregated report and codes that identify migrant students in the assessment database. We will have peer reviewers examine these documents and will inform of the results of their review.
Please understand that this waiver of timeline for South Carolina’s assessment system for Title I is not a determination that the system complies with Federal civil rights requirements, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
We look forward to South Carolina’s submission of evidence for full approval.
Sincerely,
Susan B. Neuman, Ed.D.
Assistant Secretary
