The accountability, accreditation, student performance, and resource inequity task force (task force) studied and made recommendations on academic opportunities, inequities, promising practices in schools, and improvements to the accountability and accreditation system. The bill implements the recommendations of the task force.
The bill:
Requires the department of education (department) in collaboration with schools of a school district, district charter schools, institute charter schools, and school districts (local education providers) to divide state assessments into shorter sections with age-appropriate time frames to evaluate students;
Requires the department to develop, at the request of a local education provider, versions of the state assessments for reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies in languages other than English and Spanish;
Requires the department to provide guidance to local education providers and the state charter school institute (institute) on encouraging student participation in state assessments;
Requires the department to include college entrance exams in the student academic achievement performance indicator instead of the postsecondary and workforce readiness performance indicator;
Requires the department, beginning in the 2026-27 school year, to measure the postsecondary and workforce readiness performance indicator on 2 performance sub-indicators: The college and career readiness before graduation sub-indicator and the postsecondary progress sub-indicator;
Requires the department to calculate the performance indicator measurements by combined student group so student groups are counted only once;
Creates additional supports for local education providers and the institute if they are placed on a priority improvement or turnaround plan;
Requires the department, in consultation with the technical advisory panel and other advisory groups with relevant expertise, to study academic opportunities, inequities, and promising practices in schools and improvements to the state accountability and accreditation system;
Requires the department to create a statewide education accountability dashboard and review and make recommendations to the state board of education on developing a performance report for local education providers and the institute based on the percentage of students who do and do not participate in state assessments and providing the performance report to families, students, and community members in a transparent and accessible manner; and
Encourages local education providers and the institute to adopt solutions to providing educator professional development and transforming instruction in public schools in order to receive a grant award from the school transformation grant program.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)