CAL Special Announcement: Adult English Assessment Updates

The Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) at the U.S. Department of Education has extended the approval of BEST Plus 2.0 and BEST Literacy for use by federally funded programs that report data through the National Reporting System (NRS) through June 30, 2025.

This extension is scheduled alongside the sunsetting of the current ESL educational functioning level descriptors to which BEST Plus 2.0 and BEST Literacy are aligned. This extension is intended to provide states with sufficient time to carry out the operational activities required for the transition to the new ESL assessments.

The current ESL educational functioning level descriptors and the new ESL educational functioning level descriptors will be in effect until June 30, 2025.

BEST Plus 3.0 and BEST Literacy 2.0 are approved through July 13, 2030.

Read the Federal Register official notice here.