Minnesota Session Laws - 1997, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 138-H.F.No. 2179 
                  An act relating to education; formulating a statewide 
                  testing and reporting system; requiring the state 
                  board of education to amend certain educational 
                  testing rules; proposing coding for new law in 
                  Minnesota Statutes, chapter 121. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  [121.1113] [STATEWIDE TESTING AND REPORTING 
        SYSTEM.] 
           Subdivision 1.  [STATEWIDE TESTING.] (a) The commissioner, 
        with advice from experts with appropriate technical 
        qualifications and experience and stakeholders, shall include in 
        the comprehensive assessment system, for each grade level to be 
        tested, a single statewide norm-referenced or 
        criterion-referenced test, or a combination of a norm-referenced 
        and a criterion-referenced test, which shall be highly 
        correlated with the state's graduation standards and 
        administered annually to all students in the third, fifth, and 
        eighth grades.  The commissioner shall establish one or more 
        months during which schools shall administer the tests to 
        students each school year.  The Minnesota basic skills tests in 
        reading and mathematics shall fulfill students' eighth grade 
        testing requirements.  
           (b) In addition, at the secondary level, districts shall 
        assess student performance in all required learning areas and 
        selected required standards within each area of the profiles of 
        learning.  The testing instruments and testing process shall be 
        determined by the commissioner.  The results shall be aggregated 
        at the site and district level.  The testing shall be 
        administered beginning in the 1999-2000 school year and 
        thereafter. 
           (c) The comprehensive assessment system shall include an 
        evaluation of school site and school district performance levels 
        during the 1997-1998 school year and thereafter using an 
        established performance baseline developed from students' test 
        scores under this section that records, at a minimum, students' 
        unweighted mean test scores in each tested subject, a second 
        performance baseline that reports, at a minimum, the same 
        unweighted mean test scores of only those students enrolled in 
        the school by January 1 of the previous school year, and a third 
        performance baseline that reports the same unweighted test 
        scores of all students except those students receiving limited 
        English proficiency instruction.  The evaluation also shall 
        record separately, in proximity to the performance baselines, 
        the percentages of students who are eligible to receive a free 
        or reduced price school meal, demonstrate limited English 
        proficiency, or are eligible to receive special education 
        services. 
           (d) In addition to the testing and reporting requirements 
        under paragraphs (a), (b), and (c), the commissioner, in 
        consultation with the state board of education, shall include 
        the following components in the statewide educational 
        accountability and public reporting system: 
           (1) uniform statewide testing of all third, fifth, eighth, 
        and post-eighth grade students with exemptions, only with parent 
        or guardian approval, from the testing requirement only for 
        those very few students for whom the student's individual 
        education plan team under section 120.17, subdivision 2, 
        determines that the student is incapable of taking a statewide 
        test, or a limited English proficiency student under section 
        126.262, subdivision 2, if the student has been in the United 
        States for fewer than 12 months and for whom special language 
        barriers exist, such as the student's native language does not 
        have a written form or the district does not have access to 
        appropriate interpreter services for the student's native 
        language; 
           (2) educational indicators that can be aggregated and 
        compared across school districts and across time on a statewide 
        basis; 
           (3) students' scores on the American College Test; 
           (4) 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; and 
           (5) basic skills and advanced competencies connecting 
        teaching and learning to high academic standards, assessment, 
        and transitions to citizenship and employment. 
           (e) Districts must report exemptions under paragraph (d), 
        clause (1), to the commissioner consistent with a format 
        provided by the commissioner. 
           Subd. 2.  [DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN, FAMILIES, AND LEARNING 
        ASSISTANCE.] The department of children, families, and learning 
        shall contract for professional and technical services according 
        to competitive bidding procedures under chapter 16B for purposes 
        of this section. 
           Subd. 3.  [REPORTING.] The commissioner shall report test 
        data publicly and to stakeholders, including the three 
        performance baselines developed from students' unweighted mean 
        test scores in each tested subject and a listing of demographic 
        factors that strongly correlate with student performance.  The 
        commissioner shall also report data that compares performance 
        results among school sites, school districts, Minnesota and 
        other states, and Minnesota and other nations.  The commissioner 
        shall disseminate to schools and school districts a more 
        comprehensive report containing testing information that meets 
        local needs for evaluating instruction and curriculum. 
           Sec. 2.  [PASSING SCORE.] 
           (a) By September 1, 1997, the state board of education 
        shall amend Minnesota Rules, part 3501.0180, subparts 2 and 3, 
        to adjust the passing scores for the state mathematics and 
        reading tests for students entering the ninth grade in 1998.  
        This amendment must be done in the manner specified in Minnesota 
        Statutes, section 14.386, paragraph (a). 
           (b) The state board of education may subsequently amend 
        this rule according to the provisions of Minnesota Statutes, 
        chapter 14. 
           Sec. 3.  [REPORT.] 
           The commissioner of children, families, and learning shall 
        report to the education committees of the legislature by 
        February 1, 1998, that the proposed assessment process under 
        section 1, subdivision 1, paragraph (b), appropriately measures 
        students' performance on the profile of learning and can 
        demonstrate that the proposed assessment process will be ready 
        for statewide implementation beginning in the 1999-2000 school 
        year. 
           Sec. 4.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
           This act is effective the day following final enactment. 
           Presented to the governor May 9, 1997 
           Signed by the governor May 12, 1997, 11:20 a.m.