1999 Minnesota Statutes

     120B.30 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.  Only Minnesota basic skills tests in 
 reading, mathematics, and writing shall fulfill students' 
 testing requirements for a passing state notation.  

    (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 profile 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 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 sections 125A.05 and 125A.06, 
 determines that the student is incapable of taking a statewide 
 test, or a limited English proficiency student under section 
 124D.59, 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 16C 
 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. 

    HIST: 1997 c 138 s 1; 1998 c 386 art 2 s 38; 1998 c 397 art 4 
 s 2,51; art 11 s 3; 1998 c 398 art 5 s 8; 1999 c 241 art 9 s 3