The Alabama Alternate Assessment(AAA) is a criterion-referenced state assessment administered as an alternate to the general education state assessment. The AAA is administered to students with significant cognitive disabilities working on the Alabama Extended Standards in the areas of reading, English language arts, mathematics and science.

The AAA is designed with four levels of complexity and three levels of assistance selected by the teacher based on the student's abilities to complete a task. During the school year, the teacher provides instruction on all extended standards for the subjects to be assessed according to the student's grade-level and collects pieces of evidence reflective of the student's performance. Three pieces of evidence per extended content standard are selected as the student's portfolio, and the evidence is scored using the AAA Rubric:

• Alignment to the extended standard

• Complexity of the extended content standard

• Level of assistance

• Mastery of content