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To guide and support individualized education program (IEP) teams in determining whether a student is most appropriately assessed with an alternate assessment, the Ohio Department of Education, in consultation with parents, teachers, administrators and other stakeholders, has developed a new Alternate Assessment Participation Decision-Making Tool. The new tool does not replace the existing alternate assessment decision-making framework. The tool does however, clarify and set specific criteria that students must meet for each criteria in the framework. This tool is required. Moving forward, IEP teams must use the tool each time the team is considering participation in the alternate assessment. 

The Department received many questions and comments about the decision-making tool from stakeholders during the writing process. A Decision-making Tool Frequently Asked Questions document was also created as a supplement to the decision-making tool  to address those questions and concerns.