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SF 28

as introduced - 91st Legislature (2019 - 2020) Posted on 02/11/2019 02:27pm

KEY: stricken = removed, old language.
underscored = added, new language.

Current Version - as introduced

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A bill for an act
relating to education; requiring school districts to pay the cost of a college entrance
exam for all students in grade 11 or 12; appropriating money to reimburse districts
for college entrance exam costs; amending Minnesota Statutes 2018, section
120B.30, subdivision 1.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2018, section 120B.30, subdivision 1, is amended to read:


Subdivision 1.

Statewide testing.

(a) The commissioner, with advice from experts with
appropriate technical qualifications and experience and stakeholders, consistent with
subdivision 1a, shall include in the comprehensive assessment system, for each grade level
to be tested, state-constructed tests developed as computer-adaptive reading and mathematics
assessments for students that are aligned with the state's required academic standards under
section 120B.021, include multiple choice questions, and are administered annually to all
students in grades 3 through 8. State-developed high school tests aligned with the state's
required academic standards under section 120B.021 and administered to all high school
students in a subject other than writing must include multiple choice questions. The
commissioner shall establish one or more months during which schools shall administer
the tests to students each school year.

(1) Students enrolled in grade 8 through the 2009-2010 school year are eligible to be
assessed under (i) the graduation-required assessment for diploma in reading, mathematics,
or writing under Minnesota Statutes 2012, section 120B.30, subdivision 1, paragraphs (c),
clauses (1) and (2), and (d), (ii) the WorkKeys job skills assessment, (iii) the Compass
college placement test, (iv) the ACT assessment for college admission, (v) a nationally
recognized armed services vocational aptitude test.

(2) Students enrolled in grade 8 in the 2010-2011 or 2011-2012 school year are eligible
to be assessed under (i) the graduation-required assessment for diploma in reading,
mathematics, or writing under Minnesota Statutes 2012, section 120B.30, subdivision 1,
paragraph (c), clauses (1) and (2), (ii) the WorkKeys job skills assessment, (iii) the Compass
college placement test, (iv) the ACT assessment for college admission, (v) a nationally
recognized armed services vocational aptitude test.

(3) For students under clause (1) or (2), a school district may substitute a score from an
alternative, equivalent assessment to satisfy the requirements of this paragraph.

(b) The state assessment system must be aligned to the most recent revision of academic
standards as described in section 120B.023 in the following manner:

(1) mathematics;

(i) grades 3 through 8 beginning in the 2010-2011 school year; and

(ii) high school level beginning in the 2013-2014 school year;

(2) science; grades 5 and 8 and at the high school level beginning in the 2011-2012
school year; and

(3) language arts and reading; grades 3 through 8 and high school level beginning in the
2012-2013 school year.

(c) For students enrolled in grade 8 in the 2012-2013 school year and later, students'
state graduation requirements, based on a longitudinal, systematic approach to student
education and career planning, assessment, instructional support, and evaluation, include
the following:

(1) achievement and career and college readiness in mathematics, reading, and writing,
consistent with paragraph (k) and to the extent available, to monitor students' continuous
development of and growth in requisite knowledge and skills; analyze students' progress
and performance levels, identifying students' academic strengths and diagnosing areas where
students require curriculum or instructional adjustments, targeted interventions, or
remediation; and, based on analysis of students' progress and performance data, determine
students' learning and instructional needs and the instructional tools and best practices that
support academic rigor for the student; and

(2) consistent with this paragraph and section 120B.125, age-appropriate exploration
and planning activities and career assessments to encourage students to identify personally
relevant career interests and aptitudes and help students and their families develop a regularly
reexamined transition plan for postsecondary education or employment without need for
postsecondary remediation.

Based on appropriate state guidelines, students with an individualized education program
may satisfy state graduation requirements by achieving an individual score on the
state-identified alternative assessments.

(d) Expectations of schools, districts, and the state for career or college readiness under
this subdivision must be comparable in rigor, clarity of purpose, and rates of student
completion.

A student under paragraph (c), clause (1), must receive targeted, relevant, academically
rigorous, and resourced instruction, which may include a targeted instruction and intervention
plan focused on improving the student's knowledge and skills in core subjects so that the
student has a reasonable chance to succeed in a career or college without need for
postsecondary remediation. Consistent with sections 120B.13, 124D.09, 124D.091, 124D.49,
and related sections, an enrolling school or district must actively encourage a student in
grade 11 or 12 who is identified as academically ready for a career or college to participate
in courses and programs awarding college credit to high school students. Students are not
required to achieve a specified score or level of proficiency on an assessment under this
subdivision to graduate from high school.

(e) Though not a high school graduation requirement, students are encouraged to
participate in a nationally recognized college entrance exam. To the extent state funding
for college entrance exam fees is available, a district must pay the cost, one time, for an
interested student in grade 11 or 12 deleted text begin who is eligible for a free or reduced-price meal,deleted text end to take
a nationally recognized college entrance exam before graduating. A student must be able
to take the exam under this paragraph at the student's high school during the school day and
at any one of the multiple exam administrations available to students in the district. A district
may administer the ACT or SAT or both the ACT and SAT to comply with this paragraph.
If the district administers only one of these two tests and a deleted text begin free or reduced-price meal eligibledeleted text end
student opts not to take that test and chooses instead to take the other of the two tests, the
student may take the other test at a different time or location and remains eligible for the
examination fee reimbursement. deleted text begin Notwithstanding sections 123B.34 to 123B.39, a school
district may require a student that is not eligible for a free or reduced-price meal to pay the
cost of taking a nationally recognized college entrance exam. The district must waive the
cost for a student unable to pay.
deleted text end

(f) The commissioner and the chancellor of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities
must collaborate in aligning instruction and assessments for adult basic education students
and English learners to provide the students with diagnostic information about any targeted
interventions, accommodations, modifications, and supports they need so that assessments
and other performance measures are accessible to them and they may seek postsecondary
education or employment without need for postsecondary remediation. When administering
formative or summative assessments used to measure the academic progress, including the
oral academic development, of English learners and inform their instruction, schools must
ensure that the assessments are accessible to the students and students have the modifications
and supports they need to sufficiently understand the assessments.

(g) Districts and schools, on an annual basis, must use career exploration elements to
help students, beginning no later than grade 9, and their families explore and plan for
postsecondary education or careers based on the students' interests, aptitudes, and aspirations.
Districts and schools must use timely regional labor market information and partnerships,
among other resources, to help students and their families successfully develop, pursue,
review, and revise an individualized plan for postsecondary education or a career. This
process must help increase students' engagement in and connection to school, improve
students' knowledge and skills, and deepen students' understanding of career pathways as
a sequence of academic and career courses that lead to an industry-recognized credential,
an associate's degree, or a bachelor's degree and are available to all students, whatever their
interests and career goals.

(h) A student who demonstrates attainment of required state academic standards, which
include career and college readiness benchmarks, on high school assessments under
subdivision 1a is academically ready for a career or college and is encouraged to participate
in courses awarding college credit to high school students. Such courses and programs may
include sequential courses of study within broad career areas and technical skill assessments
that extend beyond course grades.

(i) As appropriate, students through grade 12 must continue to participate in targeted
instruction, intervention, or remediation and be encouraged to participate in courses awarding
college credit to high school students.

(j) In developing, supporting, and improving students' academic readiness for a career
or college, schools, districts, and the state must have a continuum of empirically derived,
clearly defined benchmarks focused on students' attainment of knowledge and skills so that
students, their parents, and teachers know how well students must perform to have a
reasonable chance to succeed in a career or college without need for postsecondary
remediation. The commissioner, in consultation with local school officials and educators,
and Minnesota's public postsecondary institutions must ensure that the foundational
knowledge and skills for students' successful performance in postsecondary employment
or education and an articulated series of possible targeted interventions are clearly identified
and satisfy Minnesota's postsecondary admissions requirements.

(k) For students in grade 8 in the 2012-2013 school year and later, a school, district, or
charter school must record on the high school transcript a student's progress toward career
and college readiness, and for other students as soon as practicable.

(l) The school board granting students their diplomas may formally decide to include a
notation of high achievement on the high school diplomas of those graduating seniors who,
according to established school board criteria, demonstrate exemplary academic achievement
during high school.

(m) The 3rd through 8th grade computer-adaptive assessment results and high school
test results shall be available to districts for diagnostic purposes affecting student learning
and district instruction and curriculum, and for establishing educational accountability. The
commissioner must establish empirically derived benchmarks on adaptive assessments in
grades 3 through 8. The commissioner, in consultation with the chancellor of the Minnesota
State Colleges and Universities, must establish empirically derived benchmarks on the high
school tests that reveal a trajectory toward career and college readiness consistent with
section 136F.302, subdivision 1a. The commissioner must disseminate to the public the
computer-adaptive assessments and high school test results upon receiving those results.

(n) The grades 3 through 8 computer-adaptive assessments and high school tests must
be aligned with state academic standards. The commissioner shall determine the testing
process and the order of administration. The statewide results shall be aggregated at the site
and district level, consistent with subdivision 1a.

(o) The commissioner shall include the following components in the statewide public
reporting system:

(1) uniform statewide computer-adaptive assessments of all students in grades 3 through
8 and testing at the high school levels that provides appropriate, technically sound
accommodations or alternate assessments;

(2) educational indicators that can be aggregated and compared across school districts
and across time on a statewide basis, including average daily attendance, high school
graduation rates, and high school drop-out rates by age and grade level;

(3) state results on the American College Test; and

(4) state results from participation in the National Assessment of Educational Progress
so that the state can benchmark its performance against the nation and other states, and,
where possible, against other countries, and contribute to the national effort to monitor
achievement.

(p) For purposes of statewide accountability, "career and college ready" means a high
school graduate has the knowledge, skills, and competencies to successfully pursue a career
pathway, including postsecondary credit leading to a degree, diploma, certificate, or
industry-recognized credential and employment. Students who are career and college ready
are able to successfully complete credit-bearing coursework at a two- or four-year college
or university or other credit-bearing postsecondary program without need for remediation.

(q) For purposes of statewide accountability, "cultural competence," "cultural
competency," or "culturally competent" means the ability of families and educators to
interact effectively with people of different cultures, native languages, and socioeconomic
backgrounds.

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective for the 2019-2020 school year and later.
new text end

Sec. 2. new text begin ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATION; COLLEGE ENTRANCE
EXAMINATION REIMBURSEMENT.
new text end

new text begin $....... in fiscal year 2020 and $....... in fiscal year 2021 are appropriated from the general
fund to the commissioner of education for additional college entrance examination
reimbursements to school districts under Minnesota Statutes, section 120B.30, subdivision
1, paragraph (e).
new text end