An Act To Improve the Evaluation of Public Schools

CONCEPT DRAFT SUMMARY

This bill is a concept draft pursuant to Joint Rule 208.

This bill would require that, beginning with the 2016-2017 school year and only after the adoption of major substantive rules by the Department of Education, the Commissioner of Education implement a school assessment system to measure school performance and student proficiency. The system implemented must include multiple measures of student achievement and may include, but is not limited to, the use of:

1. Summative assessments aligned with the grade level expectations of the parameters for essential instruction and graduation requirements established under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 6209, subsection 2 and Department of Education Rule Chapter 132: Learning Results: Parameters for Essential Instruction;

2. Formative assessments that measure student growth over time; and

3. Information of the state assessment program under Title 20-A, section 6204 on student achievement reported by the department in compliance with applicable federal statutes and regulations regarding student assessment as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, 20 United States Code, Chapter 70.

The bill would require the commissioner to annually report the statewide and school level results of the school assessment system with regard to the performance of schools and the proficiency of students in each of the State's elementary and secondary schools and to provide each participating school with a profile of school performance and student proficiency based upon data from the school assessment system. The reporting mechanisms and the categories reported must be uniform for each school compared at the elementary level or the secondary level.

The bill would also require the Commissioner of Education to convene a task force to develop a system to evaluate or rate the performance of public schools in the State and to incorporate the recommendations of the task force in the adoption of major substantive rules under this bill. The task force must include, but is not limited to, representatives of the following entities and stakeholder groups:

1. The Department of Education;

2. The State Board of Education;

3. Teachers;

4. Principals;

5. Parents;

6. The Education Research Institute under Title 20-A, section 10; and

7. Students.

The school assessment system developed by the task force must include, but is not limited to, the following elements:

1. Accurate measures of student progress over at least 3 years;

2. Rates of postsecondary school attendance and enlistment in the United States Armed Forces over at least 3 years;

3. A peer group comparison that takes into account, but is not limited to, use of special education services, the number of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals, local and county unemployment data and median household income;

4. School attendance rates;

5. Graduation rates;

6. Procedures to address specific challenges unique to a municipality, county or school administrative unit; and

7. Interviews with parents of students, members of governing boards of school administrative units, teachers and other education leaders about the overall school environment.

The bill would require the task force to review the requirements of Title 20-A, chapter 222 and the school assessment systems that have been implemented in other states and jurisdictions and develop a school assessment system that will best serve the academic and developmental needs of students in this State. The school assessment system may not use a bell curve, and a school may not be penalized because of the failure of students to take certain standardized tests. The task force would be required to provide opportunities for the public and interested parties to provide input regarding the development of the school assessment system and give notice to the public and interested parties of the task force's meetings during which the public may provide testimony or feedback on the proposed models under consideration by the task force.