2001 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 test, which shall be aligned with the 
 state's graduation standards and administered annually to all 
 students in the third, fifth, seventh, 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' basic skills 
 testing requirements for a passing state notation.  The passing 
 scores of the state tests in reading and mathematics are the 
 equivalent of:  

    (1) 70 percent correct for students entering grade 9 in 
 1996; and 

    (2) 75 percent correct for students entering grade 9 in 
 1997 and thereafter, as based on the first uniform test 
 administration of February 1998.  

    (b) Third, fifth, and seventh grade 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 
 disseminate to the public the third, fifth, and seventh grade 
 test results upon receiving those results. 

    (c) In addition, at the high school 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, the testing process, and the 
 order of administration shall be determined by the 
 commissioner.  The results shall be aggregated at the site and 
 district level.  

    (d) The commissioner shall report school site and school 
 district student academic achievement levels of the current and 
 two immediately preceding school years.  The report shall 
 include students' unweighted mean test scores in each tested 
 subject, the unweighted mean test scores of only those students 
 enrolled in the school by October 1 of the current school year, 
 and the unweighted test scores of all students except those 
 students receiving limited English proficiency instruction.  The 
 report also shall record separately, in proximity to the 
 reported performance levels, the percentage of students of each 
 gender and the percentages of students who are eligible to 
 receive a free or reduced price school meal, demonstrate limited 
 English proficiency, are identified as migrant students, are a 
 member of a major ethnic or racial population, or are eligible 
 to receive special education services. 

    (e) In addition to the testing and reporting requirements 
 under paragraphs (a), (b), (c), and (d), the commissioner shall 
 include the following components in the statewide public 
 reporting system: 

    (1) uniform statewide testing of all third, fifth, seventh, 
 eighth, and post-eighth grade students that provides exemptions, 
 only with parent or guardian approval, 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 for 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, including average daily attendance, high school 
 graduation rates, and high school drop-out rates by age and 
 grade level; 

    (3) students' scores on the American College Test; and 

    (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. 

    (f) Districts must report exemptions under paragraph (e), 
 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; 
 2000 c 489 art 6 s 2; 2000 c 500 s 15; 1Sp2001 c 6 art 2 s 4