New CCSSO Publication

Dear Colleague,

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is pleased to inform you that we have recently released a new publication, English Language Proficiency Standards for English Learners with Significant Cognitive Disabilities.

The standards presented in this document were developed with explicit consideration of the range of learners who make up the population of English learners with significant cognitive disabilities. The standards are further intended to support these students as they learn critical English language knowledge and skills as well as communicative competence that are necessary to access, meaningfully engage in, and succeed in social and academic contexts in the same way as students with significant cognitive disabilities who are not English learners. CCSSO supported this standards development effort to address states' request for help in meeting the Federal requirement for developing Alternate English Language Proficiency Assessments.

These standards are based on the English Language Proficiency Standards developed by CCSSO in 2014 for English learners and have been particularly designed for students with significant cognitive disabilities. We greatly appreciate various groups’ contributions to this work: educators from state departments of education and other education entities; teachers of English learners, students with disabilities, and English learners with significant cognitive disabilities; and other scholars with knowledge of the student population, assessment and measurement, and English language learning and acquisi

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