2016 Minnesota Statutes

120B.31 SYSTEM ACCOUNTABILITY AND STATISTICAL ADJUSTMENTS.

Subdivision 1.Educational accountability and public reporting.

Consistent with the direction to adopt statewide academic standards under section 120B.02, the department, in consultation with education and other system stakeholders, must establish a coordinated and comprehensive system of educational accountability and public reporting that promotes greater academic achievement, preparation for higher academic education, preparation for the world of work, citizenship, and the arts.

Subd. 2.Statewide testing.

Each school year, all school districts shall give a uniform statewide test to students at specified grades to provide information on the status, needs and performance of Minnesota students.

Subd. 3.

[Repealed, 2012 c 239 art 2 s 21]

Subd. 4. Student performance data.

In developing policies and assessment processes to hold schools and districts accountable for high levels of academic standards under section 120B.021, the commissioner shall aggregate and disaggregate student data over time to report summary student performance and growth levels and, under section 120B.11, subdivision 2, clause (2), student learning and outcome data measured at the school, school district, and statewide level. The commissioner shall use the student categories identified under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as most recently reauthorized, and student categories of homelessness, ethnicity, race, home language, immigrant, refugee status, English learners under section 124D.59, free or reduced-price lunch, and other categories designated by federal law to organize and report the data so that state and local policy makers can understand the educational implications of changes in districts' demographic profiles over time as data are available. Any report the commissioner disseminates containing summary data on student performance must integrate student performance and the demographic factors that strongly correlate with that performance.

[See Note.]

Subd. 4a.Student participation.

The commissioner shall create and publish a form for parents and guardians to complete if they refuse to have their student participate in state or locally required standardized testing. The form must state why there are state academic standards, indicate which tests are aligned with state standards, and what consequences, if any, the school or student may face if a student does not participate in state or locally required standardized testing. This form must ask parents to indicate a reason for their refusal.

Subd. 5.Access to information.

To ensure the effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership between the school and parents, each district shall provide parents and teachers a timely written summary, in an electronic or other format, of their student's current and longitudinal performance and progress on the state's academic content standards as measured by state assessments. Providing parents with a summary prepared by the Department of Education fulfills the requirements of this subdivision.

Subd. 6.Retaliation prohibited.

An employee who discloses information to the commissioner or a parent or guardian about service disruptions or technical interruptions related to administering assessments under this section is protected under section 181.932, governing disclosure of information by employees.

History:

1996 c 412 art 7 s 2; 1997 c 1 s 2; 1998 c 397 art 4 s 3,4,51; art 11 s 3; 1998 c 398 art 5 s 10,55; 2003 c 130 s 12; 1Sp2005 c 5 art 11 s 1; 2007 c 146 art 2 s 10; 2009 c 96 art 2 s 9-11; 1Sp2011 c 11 art 2 s 7; 2013 c 116 art 2 s 14; 2014 c 272 art 3 s 8; 1Sp2015 c 3 art 2 s 7; 2016 c 189 art 25 s 21-24

NOTE: The amendment to subdivision 4 by Laws 2016, chapter 189, article 25, section 21, is effective for the 2017-2018 school year and later. Laws 2016, chapter 189, article 25, section 21, the effective date.