HOUSE Amended 3rd Reading April 27, 2015 HOUSE Amended 2nd Reading April 23, 2015First Regular Session Seventieth General Assembly STATE OF COLORADO REENGROSSED This Version Includes All Amendments Adopted in the House of Introduction LLS NO. 15-0456.01 Julie Pelegrin x2700 HOUSE BILL 15-1324 HOUSE SPONSORSHIP Young and Danielson, SENATE SPONSORSHIP Scott and Kerr, House Committees Senate Committees Education Appropriations A BILL FOR AN ACT Concerning the use of a student learning objectives process to provide information for evaluating educator effectiveness, and, in connection therewith, making an appropriation. Bill Summary (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does not reflect any amendments that may be subsequently adopted. If this bill passes third reading in the house of introduction, a bill summary that applies to the reengrossed version of this bill will be available at http://www.leg.state.co.us/billsummaries.) The bill recognizes that: School districts, boards of cooperative services, and charter schools (local education providers) must use measures of student academic growth in evaluating educators; The measures provided by statewide assessments are not available for every grade level and subject area; and A student learning objectives process by which an educator sets goals for student learning that are tied to specific subject areas and instructional periods is a feasible alternative for providing measures of student academic growth by which to evaluate educator effectiveness. The bill creates a student learning objectives process consortium through which local education providers, including the educators and administrators who work with student learning objectives processes, can meet and exchange information, expertise, and best practices around designing, creating, and implementing student learning objectives processes. The department of education (department) must work with local education providers to facilitate the operations of the consortium. The department, subject to available appropriations, must also organize and provide 2 training sessions to assist local education providers in creating and effectively implementing student learning objectives processes. A local education provider may apply to receive an implementation grant to provide professional development in designing, creating, and implementing a student learning objectives process. The local education provider must provide specified information, including a plan for implementing a student learning objectives process, and must agree to an external evaluation of the success of the plan. The state board of education (state board) must adopt rules for awarding the implementation grants. The state board, taking into account recommendations from the department, must award the implementation grants based on the quality of an applicant's plan and an applicant's level of need. The department must contract with an entity to evaluate each grant recipient's success in implementing a student learning objectives process. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado: SECTION 1. In Colorado Revised Statutes, add article 15 to title 22 as follows: ARTICLE 15 Student Learning Objectives Process Consortium 22-15-101. Legislative declaration. (1) The general assembly finds that: (a) The "Licensed Personnel Performance Evaluation Act", article 9 of this title, requires school districts and boards of cooperative services to evaluate licensed educators based in significant part on the impact each educator has on the academic growth of students. Measures of student academic growth must include individually attributable measures, collectively attributable measures, state summative assessments and Colorado growth model results, when available, and other local measures. (b) State summative assessments do not include all of the content areas taught by licensed educators. Local education providers estimate that state assessment results may be attributable to only thirty to forty percent of licensed educators, based on the content areas and grade levels that they teach. (c) Local education providers may purchase or develop local assessments to use in measuring educators' impacts on student academic growth. But, because of recent significant budget reductions, many local education providers lack the resources needed to purchase assessments for every grade level and subject area that is not included in the state assessments. (d) The student learning objectives process presents an alternative that local education providers may use to measure educators' individually attributable impacts on student academic growth. Implementing a student learning objectives process does not require local education providers to purchase or develop local assessments or calculate technically rigorous growth metrics. (e) The student learning objectives process, which includes using a body of evidence to measure student learning at the beginning and end of the instructional interval and monitoring learning and adjusting instruction throughout the interval, promotes excellent educator practice, supports standards-based education practices, and establishes a framework for formative assessment practice, which has been shown to have a positive impact on student learning; (f) The process for using student learning objectives also has high credibility with educators and is adaptable to all teaching assignments; (g) The student learning objectives process may provide a positive alternative method for measuring student achievement and growth in every content area and grade level, but it depends on educators' and administrators' capacity to select accurate measures and appropriately interpret assessment results. To use the student learning objectives process effectively, local education providers must engage in significant efforts to develop educator and administrator capacity. (h) Local education providers are at different stages in developing their capacity to create and implement a student learning objectives process and can therefore benefit from the opportunity to work together through a consortium of local education providers. (2) The general assembly finds, therefore, that it is in the best interests of the state to encourage local education providers to create a student learning objectives process consortium that will provide access to expertise, opportunities to learn with and from other local education providers, and resources to provide professional learning for educators and administrators. The general assembly further finds that it is appropriate to provide implementation grants to give qualifying local education providers the resources to build the capacity to effectively use the student learning objectives process for the benefit of students and educators. (3) The general assembly further finds that, for purposes of section 17 of article IX of the state constitution, grants to assist local education providers in creating and implementing student learning objectives processes will assist local education providers in implementing accountable education reform and accountable programs to meet state academic standards and may therefore receive funding from the state education fund created in section 17 (4) of article IX of the state constitution. 22-15-102. Definitions. As used in this article, unless the context otherwise requires: (1) "Consortium" means the voluntary group of local education providers that collaborate in designing, creating, and implementing the student learning objectives process. (2) "Department" means the department of education created and existing pursuant to section 24-1-115, C.R.S. (3) "Local education provider" means a school district, a board of cooperative services that operates a public school, a charter school authorized by a school district pursuant to part 1 of article 30.5 of this title, or an institute charter school authorized by the state charter school institute pursuant to part 5 of article 30.5 of this title. (4) "State board" means the state board of education created pursuant to section 1 of article IX of the state constitution. (5) "Student learning objectives process" means a process for measuring student academic growth that uses measurable goals or objectives for a specific teaching assignment or class, which are set in a participatory manner and aligned with the subject matter taught, that enable educators to evaluate the baseline performance of students and the measurable gain in student performance during the course of instruction. 22-15-103. Student learning objectives process - implementation grants - rules. (1) A local education provider may apply to the department for an implementation grant to assist the local education provider in creating and implementing a student learning objectives process for use in educator evaluations. To apply for an implementation grant, a local education provider must, at a minimum: (a) Submit to the department a plan that describes how the local education provider intends to build educator and administrative leadership capacity by implementing a student learning objectives process in a manner that simultaneously enhances classroom assessment, formative assessment practice, and standards-based instruction and increases student academic growth; (b) Explain the local education provider's need for an implementation grant; (c) Contribute to the state resource bank, created pursuant to section 22-9-105.5 (11), resources and materials the local education provider develops using the implementation grant; (d) Agree to participate with other local education providers in the consortium and other collaborative efforts among local education providers to share experiences and best practices in implementing a student learning objectives process; and (e) Agree to participate in an external evaluation of the local education provider's efforts in implementing a student learning objectives process. (2) The department shall review the grant applications it receives and recommend to the state board the local education providers that should receive implementation grants. Subject to available appropriations, the state board shall award the implementation grants, taking into account the department's recommendations. The department and the state board shall base their recommendations and decisions on the quality of each applicant's plan and each applicant's degree of financial need. (3) The department shall contract with an entity to evaluate each grantee's success in implementing a student learning objectives process. At a minimum, the evaluation must include: (a) Formative and summative evaluations of the implementation of the local education provider's plan; (b) The quality of the student learning objectives process that the local education provider adopts and implements; (c) Associated improvements, if any, in the local education provider's instruction and assessment practices; and (d) The impact that implementing a student learning objectives process has on student academic growth. (4) The state board and the department shall not retain or expend as administrative expenses any of the amount appropriated to implement this section; except that the department may annually use up to fifty thousand dollars of the amount annually appropriated to implement this section to pay the costs incurred in contracting with an entity as required in subsection (3) of this section. SECTION 2. Appropriation. For the 2015-16 state fiscal year, $1,000,000 is appropriated to the department of education. This appropriation is from the state education fund created in section 17 (4) of article IX of the state constitution. To implement this act, the department may use this appropriation for implementation grants to assist the local education provider in creating and implementing a student learning objectives process for use in educator evaluations, as provided in section 22-15-104, C.R.S. SECTION 3. Safety clause. The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that this act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety.