1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to education; providing for an office of 
  1.3             educational accountability; appropriating money; 
  1.4             amending Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 121.1115, by 
  1.5             adding a subdivision. 
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 121.1115, is 
  1.8   amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  1.9      Subd. 1b.  [EDUCATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY; PURPOSE.] (a) The 
  1.10  board of regents at the University of Minnesota is requested to 
  1.11  establish an independent office of educational accountability at 
  1.12  the college of education and human development to address the 
  1.13  needs for educational accountability, credible information on 
  1.14  the condition of prekindergarten to grade 12 education in 
  1.15  Minnesota, cost-effectiveness, and long-term continuity, and to 
  1.16  separate accountability and public reporting from monitoring and 
  1.17  administrative oversight.  The office shall consider and 
  1.18  periodically report to the education committees of the 
  1.19  legislature, at least on a biennial basis, on the needs of 
  1.20  students and the condition of education in Minnesota. 
  1.21     (b) In realizing its purpose under paragraph (a), the 
  1.22  office of educational accountability shall advise the education 
  1.23  committees of the legislature on the degree to which the 
  1.24  statewide educational accountability and reporting system 
  1.25  includes a comprehensive, performance-based assessment framework 
  2.1   that makes schools accountable for students achieving the goals 
  2.2   described in the state's high school graduation rule.  The 
  2.3   office shall consider whether the statewide system of 
  2.4   educational accountability provides useful comparative and 
  2.5   contextual data on students, schools, districts, and the state, 
  2.6   and whether it includes: 
  2.7      (1) public reporting on the condition of the educational 
  2.8   system using multiple indicators that are essential to 
  2.9   describing and understanding the needs of children and youth and 
  2.10  apply to all students; 
  2.11     (2) a core set of educational indicators that are 
  2.12  comparable and capable of being aggregated across school 
  2.13  districts and across time on a statewide basis; 
  2.14     (3) public reporting on the condition of the educational 
  2.15  system that supports the direction of state educational policy; 
  2.16     (4) a public reporting system that is flexible and permits 
  2.17  the adding, modifying, and deleting of measures as policies and 
  2.18  circumstances change; 
  2.19     (5) a public reporting system that aligns conceptually and 
  2.20  in practice with the information needs of local school 
  2.21  districts, and contains measures that local communities and 
  2.22  schools can influence; 
  2.23     (6) reports of performance information that ensure all 
  2.24  students' privacy and confidentiality; 
  2.25     (7) student performance indicators that contain clearly 
  2.26  articulated standards of student performance and have broad 
  2.27  community support; 
  2.28     (8) reports of educational performance that reflect current 
  2.29  results and trends over time; 
  2.30     (9) a reporting system that reduces and consolidates the 
  2.31  existing reporting burden on school districts by better using 
  2.32  existing information and building on current data reporting 
  2.33  systems at the state and district levels; and 
  2.34     (10) a reporting system that is managed in a nonpartisan 
  2.35  and highly competent manner to ensure the public's use and 
  2.36  confidence and minimizes the reporting burden on school 
  3.1   districts.  To the extent the statewide educational 
  3.2   accountability and reporting system does not include a 
  3.3   comprehensive, performance-based assessment framework that makes 
  3.4   schools accountable for students achieving the goals described 
  3.5   in the state's high school graduation rule, or does not provide 
  3.6   useful comparative and contextual data on students, schools, 
  3.7   districts, and the state, the office shall recommend to the 
  3.8   legislature ways to improve the accountability and reporting 
  3.9   system. 
  3.10     (c) When the office reviews the statewide educational 
  3.11  accountability and reporting system, it shall also: 
  3.12     (1) consider the objectivity and neutrality of the state's 
  3.13  educational accountability system; 
  3.14     (2) develop strong relationships with other policy actors 
  3.15  and with leaders outside government; 
  3.16     (3) recommend a uniform, statewide policy applicable to all 
  3.17  schools and school districts regarding the participation or 
  3.18  exclusion of students with special needs or limited English 
  3.19  proficiency on statewide assessments; and 
  3.20     (4) consider the impact of a high stakes testing program on 
  3.21  school curriculum and student learning. 
  3.22     (d) A technical quality review advisory panel is 
  3.23  established to assist the office of educational accountability 
  3.24  in clearly articulating the criteria for judging the statewide 
  3.25  education accountability and reporting system.  Among other 
  3.26  things, the criteria shall measure the extent to which the 
  3.27  system: 
  3.28     (1) creates intended and unintended consequences; 
  3.29     (2) is fairly administered; 
  3.30     (3) evaluates the desired and appropriate complex 
  3.31  intellectual processes; 
  3.32     (4) is relevant and meaningful to teachers, students, and 
  3.33  parents; 
  3.34     (5) evaluates skills that are transferable; 
  3.35     (6) is cost-efficient; and 
  3.36     (7) is comprehensive in its coverage of content. 
  4.1      Panel members shall include psychometricians and other 
  4.2   experts in the field of student assessment, an elementary school 
  4.3   teacher employed in a state public school, a secondary school 
  4.4   teacher employed in a state public school, a curriculum and 
  4.5   instruction director employed in a state public school, and a 
  4.6   local school administrator.  Panel members are appointed by and 
  4.7   serve at the pleasure of the speaker of the house, the house 
  4.8   minority leader, the majority leader of the senate, and the 
  4.9   senate minority leader.  Panel members shall receive 
  4.10  compensation according to section 15.059, subdivision 3. 
  4.11     (e) The office of educational accountability shall report 
  4.12  at least biennially by November 1 preceding the first year of 
  4.13  the state's biennial legislative session to the education 
  4.14  committees of the legislature on the status of the statewide 
  4.15  system of educational accountability. 
  4.16     Sec. 2.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  4.17     $....... is appropriated in fiscal year 1999 from the 
  4.18  general fund to the board of regents of the University of 
  4.19  Minnesota for the purposes of section 1.