Policy 2520.16 West Virginia Alternate Academic Achievement Standards defines the alternate academic achievement standards grades K-12 for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and provides rigorous and challenging standards to meet the requirements of Policy 2510.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires the state to adopt challenging alternate academic achievement standards, linked to the state’s grade-level academic content standards, for students with significant cognitive disabilities, to form the basis of instruction, assessment and accountability for this group.   A student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) Team determines whether the student has a significant cognitive disability requiring instruction on these standards.  West Virginia Alternate Academic Achievement Standards will ensure alignment of the state’s alternate academic achievement standards with the West Virginia College- and Career-Readiness Standards in the areas of English language arts, mathematics, and science for grades K-12 which is consistent with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requirements

Policy 2520.16: Next Generation Alternate Academic Achievement Standards for Science in West Virginia Schools (PDF, external), (Word); Effective July 1, 2018: Title becomes West Virginia Alternate Academic Achievement Standards (PDF), (Word)

Social Studies: Best Practices for Alternate Academic Achievement Standards 

Please refer to Policies page for more information.

WV Alternate Academic Achievement Standards Support Documents: