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SDLA Compliance Resource

Notify Only Families of Students Selected for NAEP—and Explain Voluntary Student Participation

A sampled-assessment notice that distinguishes school selection, student random selection, Title I institutional duties, family choice, confidentiality, and the absence of individual scores.

  • NAEP
  • Parent Notice
  • Federal Assessment
Date(s)Before the assigned NAEP assessment date, using the current NAEP coordinator schedule and materials
Applies toOnly schools selected for NAEP and only parents/guardians of students sampled within those schools

In Plain Language: Most schools are not selected in a given NAEP cycle. In a selected school, students are randomly sampled. Notify those families that student participation is voluntary, a parent may decline, the student may skip questions, and no individual student or school score is produced.

Why this matters

NAEP is not another all-student California assessment. Clear notice prevents families and staff from confusing a national sample with CAASPP requirements.

Joint ownership

Owner: selected school’s NAEP coordinator. Partners: state/NAEP field staff, principal, registrar, parent communications, special education, and EL staff.

From NAEP selection to notices for sampled families only: the SDLA ITO workflow

Only families of students sampled in a selected school are notified, and participation is voluntary. This SDLA ITO (Input, Transformation, Output) graphic shows how the official school and student selection, the current NCES letter, and the assessment date become the selection notice and sampled roster, the notice and delivery proof, and the decline and accommodation coordination.

SDLA ITO: eleven steps from the official school and student selection, the current NCES letter, and the assessment date, through confirming selection, preparing the notice, and coordinating declines, to the selection notice and sampled roster, the notice and delivery proof, and the decline and accommodation coordination.
Read down each column, then move to the next: Input identifies what to collect; Transformation covers confirming selection, preparing the notice, and coordinating declines; Output covers the selection notice and sampled roster, the notice and delivery proof, and the decline and accommodation coordination. Notify before the assigned NAEP assessment date.

Open the full-size workflow graphic

Operational workflow

  1. Confirm official school and student selection; do nothing districtwide for unselected schools.
  2. Use the current NCES letter and assessment date, subjects, time, confidentiality, and contact information.
  3. Explain voluntary student participation, the right to decline, accommodations, and no individual results.
  4. Document notice to each sampled student’s parent and record declines through the NAEP process.

Selection funnel

Most schools: not selected
Selected school
Randomly sampled students
Parent notice
Voluntary student decision

Evidence to retain

  • Official selection notice
  • Sampled-student roster
  • Current parent notice and translations
  • Delivery proof and questions
  • Decline/accommodation coordination

Official guidance and help

Source review completed August 30, 2026. Verify current federal and California law, CDE and test-contractor manuals, local board policy, adopted instruments, individual student circumstances, and live system status before acting.