1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to education; allowing a school board to 
  1.3             waive a basic skills testing requirement for a 
  1.4             qualified student; amending Minnesota Statutes 2000, 
  1.5             section 120B.30, subdivision 1.  
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 120B.30, 
  1.8   subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  1.9      Subdivision 1.  [STATEWIDE TESTING.] (a) The commissioner, 
  1.10  with advice from experts with appropriate technical 
  1.11  qualifications and experience and stakeholders, shall include in 
  1.12  the comprehensive assessment system, for each grade level to be 
  1.13  tested, a test, which shall be aligned with the state's 
  1.14  graduation standards and administered annually to all students 
  1.15  in the third, fifth, and eighth grades.  The commissioner shall 
  1.16  establish one or more months during which schools shall 
  1.17  administer the tests to students each school year.  Only 
  1.18  Minnesota basic skills tests in reading, mathematics, and 
  1.19  writing shall fulfill students' basic skills testing 
  1.20  requirements for a passing state notation.  The passing scores 
  1.21  of the state tests in reading and mathematics are the equivalent 
  1.22  of:  
  1.23     (1) 70 percent correct for students entering grade 9 in 
  1.24  1996; and 
  1.25     (2) 75 percent correct for students entering grade 9 in 
  2.1   1997 and thereafter, as based on the first uniform test 
  2.2   administration of February 1998.  
  2.3   A school board may establish and must publish notice of a 
  2.4   process by which the board may waive the requirement that a 
  2.5   student receive a passing score on a basic skills test as a 
  2.6   condition of graduation.  Only a student whom the board 
  2.7   determines has otherwise consistently demonstrated sufficient 
  2.8   competency in the applicable area of reading, mathematics, or 
  2.9   writing is eligible to receive a waiver.  The district must 
  2.10  report all waivers it grants to the commissioner using a format 
  2.11  the commissioner provides. 
  2.12     Notwithstanding Minnesota Rules, part 3501.0050, subpart 2, 
  2.13  at the written request of a parent or guardian, and with the 
  2.14  recommendation of the student's teacher, a district may offer 
  2.15  the test of basic requirements in reading, math, or writing to 
  2.16  an individual student beginning in grade 5.  The student must 
  2.17  take the same test on the same date as administered to students 
  2.18  in eighth grade or higher.  Third and fifth grade test results 
  2.19  shall be available to districts for diagnostic purposes 
  2.20  affecting student learning and district instruction and 
  2.21  curriculum, and for establishing educational accountability.  
  2.22  The commissioner must disseminate to the public the third and 
  2.23  fifth grade test results upon receiving those results. 
  2.24     (b) In addition, at the secondary level, districts shall 
  2.25  assess student performance in all required learning areas and 
  2.26  selected required standards within each area of the profile of 
  2.27  learning.  The testing instruments and testing process shall be 
  2.28  determined by the commissioner.  The results shall be aggregated 
  2.29  at the site and district level.  The testing shall be 
  2.30  administered beginning in the 1999-2000 school year and 
  2.31  thereafter. 
  2.32     (c) The commissioner shall report school site and school 
  2.33  district student academic achievement levels of the current and 
  2.34  two immediately preceding school years.  The report shall 
  2.35  include students' unweighted mean test scores in each tested 
  2.36  subject, the unweighted mean test scores of only those students 
  3.1   enrolled in the school by January 1 of the previous school year, 
  3.2   and the unweighted test scores of all students except those 
  3.3   students receiving limited English proficiency instruction.  The 
  3.4   report also shall record separately, in proximity to the 
  3.5   reported performance levels, the percentages of students who are 
  3.6   eligible to receive a free or reduced price school meal, 
  3.7   demonstrate limited English proficiency, or are eligible to 
  3.8   receive special education services. 
  3.9      (d) In addition to the testing and reporting requirements 
  3.10  under paragraphs (a), (b), and (c), the commissioner shall 
  3.11  include the following components in the statewide public 
  3.12  reporting system: 
  3.13     (1) uniform statewide testing of all third, fifth, eighth, 
  3.14  and post-eighth grade students that provides exemptions, only 
  3.15  with parent or guardian approval, for those very few students 
  3.16  for whom the student's individual education plan team under 
  3.17  sections 125A.05 and 125A.06, determines that the student is 
  3.18  incapable of taking a statewide test, or for a limited English 
  3.19  proficiency student under section 124D.59, subdivision 2, if the 
  3.20  student has been in the United States for fewer than 12 months 
  3.21  and for whom special language barriers exist, such as the 
  3.22  student's native language does not have a written form or the 
  3.23  district does not have access to appropriate interpreter 
  3.24  services for the student's native language; 
  3.25     (2) educational indicators that can be aggregated and 
  3.26  compared across school districts and across time on a statewide 
  3.27  basis, including average daily attendance, high school 
  3.28  graduation rates, and high school drop-out rates by age and 
  3.29  grade level; 
  3.30     (3) students' scores on the American College Test; and 
  3.31     (4) participation in the National Assessment of Educational 
  3.32  Progress so that the state can benchmark its performance against 
  3.33  the nation and other states, and, where possible, against other 
  3.34  countries, and contribute to the national effort to monitor 
  3.35  achievement. 
  3.36     (e) Districts must report exemptions under paragraph (d), 
  4.1   clause (1), to the commissioner consistent with a format 
  4.2   provided by the commissioner. 
  4.3      <b>[EFFECTIVE DATE.]</b> This section is effective for the 
  4.4   2001-2002 school year and later.