Approved 2022-2023 Assessment Manual, Lookback Period
NUMBERED MEMO CC22-034
TO: College and Career Readiness Directors, Vice Presidents of Instruction, Chief
Academic Officers, Continuing Education Deans
FROM: State Director of WIOA – Title II and Associate Vice President of College & Career
Readiness
SUBJECT: Approved 2022-2023 Assessment Manual, Lookback Period
DATE: May 26, 2022
The Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) at the U.S. Department of
Education has approved the 2022-2023 Assessment Manual. One substantive change in the
manual is an updated Lookback Period Policy. A 270-Day Lookback Period Policy was approved
by OCTAE and will be discussed in further detail in our upcoming Annual Assessment Training –
invitations are forthcoming. Some details about the new policy are below:
• Continuing Student – A student with continuous enrollment from one program year to
the next will automatically have the last test within the 270-day window (Oct. 1 – June
30) pulled forward as their initial placement in the new program year.
• Returning Student in Same Program Year – If the student has exited the program for at
least 90 days and then begins a new Period of Participation (PoP) in the same program
year, his/her test scores are valid for initial placement and calculating EFL.
• Returning Student in New Program Year – If the student has exited the program for at
least 90 days and then begins a new Period of Participation (PoP) in a new program
year, his/her test scores are NOT valid for calculating EFL gain, and a new assessment
must be administered within the first 12 hours of instruction.
The benefits of expanding the lookback period are:
• Students and staff spend less time testing
• Saves money on testing supplies
• Resources better used by testing at recommended timeframes
• Increase the possibility of capturing MSG gains
• More tests are being analyzed
• Less loss of MSG gains previously not captured
• Better reflection of the work being done in the classroom and student progress
If you have questions about the new Lookback Period Policy or any other portions of the 2022-
2023 Assessment Manual, please reach out to Michael Tilley at
tilleym@nccommunitycolleges.edu.
cc:
Dr. Kimberly Gold, Chief of Staff
Dr. Levy Brown, Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer
Michael Tilley, Adult Education Coordinator – Assessment and Instruction
