Jessica Wilhel, a USBE special-education assessment specialist, walked assessment directors through policy and operational guidance for accommodations on statewide tests.

Wilhel emphasized team-based decision-making: "These are team decisions made on individual student needs. USBE will never make a decision on behalf of a team," she said, and noted IDEA §300.161 requires appropriate accommodations for inclusion in statewide assessments. She described resources staff should bookmark: the Utah Accessibility Accommodations and Participation Policy, the RISE test administration manual, the TIDE user guide for state-level accommodation requests, and the RISE assistive-technology manual that lists compatible third-party devices (noting speech-to-text, braille configurations and eye-gaze as examples).

Operational details: Wilhel said certain accommodations require state approval and that AT requests must be specific to verify vendor compatibility in secure testing environments. She also described the exceptional accommodation request form for uncommon accommodations and stated there are no hard deadlines for RISE accommodation submissions but teams should set accommodations in TIDE before administration begins. For ACT, she explained there are now three accommodation deadlines tied to the state's three test events; missing a window can force students into a later test event or cost the LEA to test on a national date.

Why it matters: The guidance clarifies LEA responsibilities (IEP/504 teams and local administrators) and provides concrete resources and timelines to ensure students receive permissible supports without invalidating scores.

Next steps: USBE staff encouraged assessment directors to monitor decision notifications in ACT/TIDE, to reach out to USBE staff (including Megan Tippets) with questions, and to submit any exceptional AT requests with specific device details so vendors can confirm compatibility.