Students with IEPs in grades three through eight and eleven who cannot take the CAASPP tests even with appropriate accommodations, and whose parents do not excuse them from the program (See question 2 above), may be given an alternate test which is known as the California Alternate Assessment (CAA).  The CAA is the successor test to the California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA).  The need to use an alternate assessment for the student must be specified in her IEP.  [5 C.C.R. Sec. 851.5.]

The CAA covers language arts, math, and science.  The CAA is only given to students who have the most significant cognitive disabilities.  [5 C.C.R section 850(d)&(g) and 854.5(a).]  Pupils with the most significant cognitive disabilities are those whose disabilities significantly impact cognitive functioning and adaptive behavior and who require extensive, direct individualized instruction and substantial supports in order to achieve measurement on academic standards.  [5 C.C.R. Sec. 850(v).]  However, no particular disability is necessarily one that results in the most significant cognitive disabilities, and a child cannot be determined to have one of the most significant cognitive disabilities based solely on his previous low academic achievement or previous need for accommodations in state or local achievement testing.  [Id.]