Arkansas Code Sec. 6-18-235(d)(1), established by ACT 426 of 2023, states that a public school district shall have the option of whether or not to include test results achieved by an international exchange student enrolled in the public school district in state-mandated assessments. The public school district shall include or exclude the test results achieved by each international exchange student enrolled in the public school as a group.

If your district chooses to exclude all foreign exchange students, please alert the Office of Public School Accountability via email at ade.schmail@ade.arkansas.gov, by April 5, 2024, otherwise all students will remain in your calculations for A-F.

Arkansas Code Sec. 6-18-235 has no effect on federal accountability calculations (i.e. ESSA School Index or the students' expectation to test). According to Standard 1-C.1.1 of the DESE Standards for Accreditation, public schools shall assess at least 95% of its students on the annual statewide student assessment (S/C). All foreign exchange students are expected to test if enrolled in an eligible course or grade.

In eSchool, foreign exchange students should be identified in the Citizen Status field under Registration > Entry & Reports > Student Demographic > Personal. This field will pull into state reporting in cycles 2-7 and a count of students will display on the student status reports (Reports 334 and 434).