Second Regular Session Seventieth General Assembly STATE OF COLORADO INTRODUCED LLS NO. 16-0090.02 Julie Pelegrin x2700 HOUSE BILL 16-1131 HOUSE SPONSORSHIP Carver, Lundeen SENATE SPONSORSHIP (None), House Committees Senate Committees Education A BILL FOR AN ACT Concerning accountability measures in the elementary and secondary public education system. 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 repeals the requirement that the state participate in a consortium of states that creates a set of assessments to measure students' college and career readiness. The bill allows the department of education (department), at the request of the state board of education (state board) and to the extent possible under the federal education law or under a federal waiver, to recommend to the state board state assessment options for use by local education providers. The state assessment options would have to provide a valid measurement of the level of student achievement of the state academic standards and be sufficient to support statewide accountability and comparability. Under existing law, the department selects an assessment to administer to students in tenth grade (tenth-grade test) and a curriculum-based, achievement college entrance exam (exam) to administer to students in eleventh grade. The department is required to consider competitive bids for the tenth-grade test and the exam every 5 years. The bill repeals the requirement to reconsider competitive bids every 5 years. No later than July 1, 2021, the bill requires the state board, instead of the department, to select the tenth-grade test and the exam. The bill allows the department to reduce the administration of state assessments if the department, at the direction of the state board, participates in a pilot assessment program authorized in the federal education law. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado: SECTION 1. Legislative declaration. (1) The general assembly finds that: (a) Section 2 of article IX of the state constitution requires the state to establish and maintain a "thorough and uniform system of free public schools throughout the state, wherein all residents of the state, between the ages of six and twenty-one years, may be educated gratuitously"; (b) Section 1 of article IX of the state constitution creates the state board of education and vests within it the "general supervision of the public schools"; (c) A key aspect of a thorough and uniform system of public schools and of the general supervision of those schools is the setting of academic standards that establish what a student should know and be able to do at various junctures in the student's education. These standards must be aligned and build upon one another so that, as a student masters the standards at each grade level, he or she achieves college and career readiness by the time the student graduates from high school. (d) The description of college and career readiness must be aligned with the expectations of the institutions of higher education in this state and the needs of business and industry in this state; (e) It is therefore crucial that the state, and especially the state board of education, maintain its independence in setting academic standards and the descriptions of college and career readiness to ensure that the students of Colorado are adequately prepared to be productive citizens of Colorado and to help meet the needs of Colorado businesses and contribute to the state economy; and (f) It is also essential for the state to give school districts as much flexibility as possible in selecting and administering assessments to ensure that school districts maintain the control of instruction, including control of curriculum, that is guaranteed to school districts in section 15 of article IX of the state constitution. SECTION 2. In Colorado Revised Statutes, 22-7-1006, repeal (1.5); and add (1.3) as follows: 22-7-1006. Preschool through elementary and secondary education - aligned assessments - adoption - revisions. (1.3) At the request of the state board, the department of education shall recommend to the state board a plan by which the state board may approve and provide to local education providers state assessment options for each subject and grade level in which state assessments are administered; except that the department may recommend the plan only if it determines that the plan is consistent with the requirements of the federal "Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965", 20 U.S.C. sec. 6301 et seq., as amended, or with any waivers of the act approved for Colorado by the federal department of education. The state assessment options included in the plan may include assessments developed by local education providers. In recommending the plan, the department shall ensure that the state assessment options provide a valid measurement of students' achievement of the state academic standards and that the state assessment options are sufficiently comparable to ensure statewide accountability and comparability of performance. (1.5) Colorado shall participate as a governing board member, at least until January 1, 2014, in a consortium of states that focuses on the readiness of students for college and careers by developing a common set of assessments. On or before January 1, 2014, and on or before each January 1 thereafter, if Colorado is a governing board member of the consortium of states, the state board is strongly encouraged to conduct a fiscal and student achievement benefit analysis of Colorado remaining a governing board member of the consortium. If adopting the system of assessments that is aligned with the state standards for reading, writing, and mathematics, the state board shall rely upon assessments developed by the consortium of states. SECTION 3. In Colorado Revised Statutes, 22-7-1006.3, amend (2) (a) and (2) (b); and add (2.5) as follows: 22-7-1006.3. State assessments - administration - rules. (2) (a) For administration beginning in the 2015-16 school year, the department of education shall select, and the state shall pay the costs of administering and by July 1, 2021, the state board shall select, an assessment that is aligned with the state academic standards for students enrolled in tenth grade and with the assessment selected pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subsection (2). Every five years, the department shall request competitive bids and contract for the assessment required in this paragraph (a) The state shall pay the costs of administering the selected assessment. Each local education provider shall administer the assessment for students enrolled in tenth grade. Each local education provider shall administer the tenth-grade assessment on a schedule that the department annually sets. (b) For administration beginning in the 2015-16 school year, the department of education shall select, and the state shall pay the costs of administering and by July 1, 2021, the state board shall select, an assessment that is administered throughout the United States and relied upon by institutions of higher education, referred to in this section as the "curriculum-based, achievement college entrance exam". Every five years, the department shall request competitive bids and contract for the curriculum-based, achievement college entrance exam The state shall pay the costs of administering the selected curriculum-based college entrance exam. At a minimum the curriculum-based, achievement college entrance exam must test in the areas of reading, writing, mathematics, and science. Each local education provider shall administer the curriculum-based, achievement college entrance exam for students enrolled in eleventh grade. If the selected curriculum-based, achievement college entrance exam includes a separate writing portion, the local education provider shall administer the writing portion of the curriculum-based, achievement college entrance exam to each student who requests the opportunity to take the writing portion. The department shall pay the costs of administering the writing portion of the exam. (2.5) Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, if, at the direction of the state board, the department of education participates in an assessment pilot program as authorized in the federal "Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965", 20 U.S.C. sec. 6301 et seq., as amended, the department may reduce the administration of the state assessments required in this section in accordance with the parameters of the authorized pilot program. SECTION 4. Act subject to petition - effective date. This act takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on the day following the expiration of the ninety-day period after final adjournment of the general assembly (August 10, 2016, if adjournment sine die is on May 11, 2016); except that, if a referendum petition is filed pursuant to section 1 (3) of article V of the state constitution against this act or an item, section, or part of this act within such period, then the act, item, section, or part will not take effect unless approved by the people at the general election to be held in November 2016 and, in such case, will take effect on the date of the official declaration of the vote thereon by the governor.