CAASPP Testing Accommodations for California IEP and 504 Students

State testing season surfaces a gap that many parents don't know exists until it's too late: the accommodations written into your child's IEP for daily instruction don't automatically appear on the CAASPP. California's assessment system has its own accessibility framework — its own categories, its own procedures, and its own set of rules about what needs to be documented where and by whom. If those steps aren't taken before testing begins, a student who uses text-to-speech every day in class may end up taking the CAASPP without it.

How the CAASPP Accessibility System Works

The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) — which includes the Smarter Balanced Assessments for English language arts and mathematics, and the California Science Test — operates under a tiered accessibility framework maintained by the California Department of Education.

The three categories are:

Universal Tools are available to all students, with or without a disability or a plan. These include things like digital scratch paper, highlighters within the testing software, and the zoom function. No documentation is required.

Designated Supports are available for students with a disability, English Learner status, or other needs — but they must be designated by an educator, not necessarily documented in an IEP or 504 plan. These include read-aloud for non-ELA tests (administered by a human), translated test directions, and streamlined interface options. A teacher or test administrator can designate these before testing, but the designation must be recorded in the assessment platform.

Accommodations are available only to students with a current IEP or 504 Plan, and — critically — the accommodation must be explicitly listed in the IEP or 504 document. The accommodation must also be one the student routinely uses during instruction. Accommodations include things like text-to-speech for ELA assessments (embedded in the testing software), Braille, and American Sign Language for mathematics tests.

The critical error many families make: assuming that a general statement in the IEP like "extended time" or "text-to-speech support" automatically transfers to CAASPP. It does not. The IEP must use the specific CAASPP accommodation language, the accommodation must appear in the student's assessment settings in the testing platform (set by the school's test coordinator), and the student must be using the support routinely in daily instruction throughout the year.

The Accommodations That Must Be Written Into the IEP

For a student with an IEP to access CAASPP accommodations, the IEP team must explicitly designate those accommodations. Some of the most commonly needed:

Embedded accommodations (built into the testing software):

• Text-to-speech (reads items aloud to the student within the software) — including for ELA, which requires explicit IEP authorization
• Spanish translation glossaries (for mathematics)
• Closed captioning for audio content

Non-embedded accommodations (provided by staff or the testing environment):

• Extended time (percentage or unlimited)
• Separate testing environment
• Read-aloud by a human test examiner for ELA — requires specific IEP documentation and is an accommodation, not a designated support

Before the IEP meeting, review which of these your child currently uses during daily instruction. If a paraprofessional reads directions aloud during classroom work, that's a support the child may need during testing. If the child uses text-to-speech on their Chromebook every day, that support needs to be formalized in the IEP as a CAASPP accommodation.

Unlisted Resources: A Category Many Parents Don't Know Exists

The CAASPP Accessibility Resources Matrix includes a category called "Unlisted Resources" — accommodations not on the standard list that can be requested when a student's specific disability-related need isn't covered by the published accommodations.

To request an unlisted resource, the LEA submits documentation to the CDE explaining the student's specific need and the accommodation requested. This is not a common process, but it exists for students with rare or complex disability profiles whose needs don't map neatly to the standard CAASPP accommodation menu.

If your child has a specific, documented need that isn't addressed by any of the listed CAASPP accommodations, the IEP team can explore the unlisted resource pathway — but it requires advance planning, and the CDE review process takes time.

Alternate Assessments: CAASPP vs. California Alternate Assessments

For students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, the IEP team may determine that CAASPP participation is not appropriate and instead designate the student to participate in the California Alternate Assessments (CAA) for ELA and mathematics, and the Alternate ELPAC for English language proficiency.

The CAA is designed for students who are working toward alternate achievement standards (the Core Content Connectors), not grade-level standards. Designating a student for the CAA is a significant decision — it signals that the student is not being held to the same standards as their peers, which has implications for long-term diploma eligibility and transition planning.

This designation must be based on individualized assessment data, not diagnostic category or placement. A student with autism, for example, is not automatically a CAA candidate — the decision must reflect that the student's IEP specifically targets alternate achievement standards.

IEP teams must document that parents were informed about the implications of alternate assessment participation, including the potential impact on high school graduation requirements.

The California IEP & 504 Blueprint includes a checklist for mapping your child's daily instructional accommodations to the CAASPP Accessibility Resources Matrix, so you can walk into the IEP meeting knowing exactly which CAASPP accommodations to request — and in the right language for the testing platform.

Get the complete toolkit

When the School Says the Accommodation Wasn't Set Up in Time

This happens: a student arrives at testing with accommodations in their IEP that the school's test coordinator never activated in the CAASPP testing platform. The student tests without extended time or text-to-speech. The parent discovers this afterward.

If testing accommodations were not provided despite being required by the IEP, that is a denial of FAPE — specifically, a failure to implement the IEP as written. Document what happened in writing. Request an explanation from the special education director regarding why the accommodations were not activated. Depending on the scope of the failure and whether results were affected, this may support a compensatory education claim.

Before testing each year, it is worth confirming with the school's test coordinator that your child's CAASPP accommodations are correctly entered in the system. A short email asking for confirmation that the accommodations match the IEP is a reasonable proactive step — and if there's a discrepancy, you want to know before testing week, not after.

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