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SDLA Compliance Resource

Tell Title I Families How to Request Assessment-Participation Policy Information

A beginning-of-year notice of the federal right to ask what state and local participation policies require, including any available opt-out process under state or local law.

  • Title I
  • Parent Rights
  • Annual Notice
Date(s)At the beginning of each school year
Applies toEach LEA receiving Title I, Part A funds

In Plain Language: Notify parents that they may request—and the LEA will provide—information about state and LEA policies governing participation in required assessments, including any policy, procedure, or parental right to opt out where applicable.

Why this matters

This federal notice is a right to obtain accurate policy information. It does not itself create a nationwide opt-out right or replace California’s specific written CAASPP exemption rule.

Joint ownership

Owner: Title I/federal programs lead. Partners: assessment, legal/policy, school communications, language access, principals, and family engagement.

From policy research to a Title I assessment-rights notice: the SDLA ITO workflow

Families can ask what participation rules apply, so the notice shows them how to request that information. This SDLA ITO (Input, Transformation, Output) graphic shows how federal, California, and local assessment participation and opt-out rules become the approved notice, the policy inventory, and the request and response record.

SDLA ITO: eleven steps from federal, California, and local assessment participation and opt-out rules, through an inventory by assessment, the notice, request routing, and responses, to the approved notice, the policy inventory, and the request and response record.
Read down each column, then move to the next: Input identifies what to collect; Transformation covers an inventory by assessment, the notice, request routing, and responses; Output covers the approved notice, the policy inventory, and the request and response record. Issue at the beginning of each school year.

Open the full-size workflow graphic

Operational workflow

  1. Inventory current federal, California, and local participation/opt-out rules by assessment.
  2. Issue the beginning-of-year notice in accessible language and formats with a clear request channel.
  3. Route requests to staff who can provide current, assessment-specific information promptly.
  4. Retain notice/delivery evidence and the response provided; update materials when policy changes.

Rights-information map

Federal required assessments
California participation policy
Local required assessments
Applicable opt-out route
Request and response

Evidence to retain

  • Approved annual notice
  • Policy/source inventory
  • Translation/accessibility versions
  • Delivery evidence
  • Requests and responses

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.