HOUSE 3rd Reading Unamended May 6, 2016 HOUSE Amended 2nd Reading May 5, 2016Second Regular Session Seventieth General Assembly STATE OF COLORADO REENGROSSED This Version Includes All Amendments Adopted in the House of Introduction LLS NO. 16-0037.01 Julie Pelegrin x2700 HOUSE BILL 16-1016 HOUSE SPONSORSHIP Young, SENATE SPONSORSHIP Kerr, House Committees Senate Committees Education Appropriations A BILL FOR AN ACT Concerning using multiple measures of student academic growth. 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 creates a grant program to assist school districts, boards of cooperative services, and charter schools (local education providers) in creating and applying multiple measures of student academic growth to measure the performance of public schools and local education providers and to measure educator effectiveness. A local education provider may apply to receive a grant by providing specified information, including a plan for building the capacity of educators and administrators concerning multiple measures of student academic growth and for developing and implementing a process for creating and applying multiple measures of student academic growth. The local education provider must also agree to an external evaluation of the success of the plan. The state board of education (state board) must adopt rules for awarding the grants. The state board, taking into account recommendations from the department of education (department), must award the 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 creating and applying multiple measures of student academic growth. The department must annually prepare and submit to the education committees of the general assembly a summary of the evaluations, including an evaluation of whether the multiple measures of student academic growth were effective in measuring the performance of public schools and local education providers and in measuring educator effectiveness and the likelihood of success in applying the multiple measures statewide to measure the performance of public schools and local education providers. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado: SECTION 1. In Colorado Revised Statutes, add article 16 to title 22 as follows: ARTICLE 16 Multiple Measures of Student Academic Growth 22-16-101. Legislative declaration. (1) The general assembly finds that: (a) State summative assessments are the primary tool for measuring student academic growth, evaluating educator effectiveness, and measuring the performance of local education providers and the state in providing public education programs; (b) But state summative assessments do not include all of the content areas taught by local education providers and, in fact, are useful for measuring student achievement and academic growth, educator effectiveness, and the performance of local education providers only in a small minority of subjects; (c) In addition, state summative assessments, because they are standardized, usually multi-choice tests, arguably do not provide a complete measure of what each student knows or is able to do. Well-designed performance-based measures may provide a more comprehensive understanding of a student's knowledge and skills. (d) Developing multiple ways to measure student academic growth gives local education providers rigorous, valid, and reliable measures of student academic growth that supplement the information received from state summative assessments. These supplemental measures enable local education providers to more fully evaluate the performance of public schools and more holistically measure educators' individually attributable impacts on student achievement and academic growth. (e) Using multiple measures of student academic growth to create a body of evidence that measures students' knowledge 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) A local education provider's ability to effectively create and use multiple measures of student academic growth depends in part on educators' and administrators' capacity to select or design accurate measures and appropriately interpret assessment results. To create and apply multiple measures of student academic growth effectively, local education providers must engage in an intentional process of organized learning to develop educator and administrator capacity. (g) Local education providers are at different stages in developing their capacity to create and apply multiple measures of student academic growth and can therefore benefit from working in partnerships, especially partnerships that include both urban and rural local education providers and local education providers of varying student population sizes and demographics; (h) A local education provider may develop and use multiple measures of student academic growth to measure student achievement and academic growth, evaluate the effectiveness of educators that the local education provider employs, and measure the performance of public schools and of the local education provider as a whole. In addition, a local education provider may develop multiple measures of student academic growth with the intent that other local education providers may use them or that the measures will be sufficiently rigorous, valid, reliable, and comparable for use as part of statewide accountability and accreditation. (i) The federal "Every Student Succeeds Act", Pub.L. 114-95, which reauthorizes the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965", 20 U.S.C. sec. 6301 et seq., requires each state to measure the performance of local education providers by using at least one indicator of school quality or student success. The general assembly may ultimately consider using any measures of student academic growth that are created as a result of this article and that are sufficiently rigorous, valid, reliable, and comparable as a performance indicator of school quality or student success as required in the "Every Student Succeeds Act". (2) The general assembly finds, therefore, that it is appropriate to establish a grant program to give local education providers the resources to effectively create and apply multiple measures of student academic growth for the benefit of students, educators, public schools, and local education providers. (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 applying multiple measures of student academic growth 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. 22-16-102. Definitions. As used in this article, unless the context otherwise requires: (1) "BOCES" means a board of cooperative services created pursuant to article 5 of this title. (2) "Department" means the department of education created and existing pursuant to section 24-1-115, C.R.S. (3) "Fund" means the student academic growth measures grant program fund created in section 22-16-105. (4) "Grant program" means the student academic growth measures grant program created in section 22-16-103. (5) "Grantee" means a local education provider or partnership of local education providers that receives a grant from the grant program. (6) "Local education provider" means a school district, a BOCES 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. (7) "Multiple measures of student academic growth" means performance-based methods of measuring student academic growth that: (a) Are based on setting measurable goals or objectives for a specific teaching assignment or class, which goals and objectives are set in a participatory manner and aligned with the subject matter taught; and (b) Enable educators to evaluate the baseline performance of students and the measurable gain in student performance during the course of instruction. (8) "State board" means the state board of education created in section 1 of article IX of the state constitution. 22-16-103. Student academic growth measures grant program - created - applications. (1) There is created in the department the student academic growth measures grant program to assist local education providers in developing and using multiple measures of student academic growth as supplements to the state assessments administered pursuant to section 22-7-1006.3 and other standardized tests administered by local education providers. A local education provider may use the multiple measures of student academic growth to supplement, but not replace, statewide summative assessments. A grantee may develop the multiple measures of student academic growth for use solely by the grantee for one or all of the purposes of measuring student achievement and academic growth, evaluating educator effectiveness, evaluating public school performance, or evaluating the overall performance of a school district or BOCES. In addition, a grantee may choose to develop the multiple measures of student academic growth ultimately for use throughout the state as part of statewide accountability and accreditation under article 11 of this title. (2) A local education provider, solely or in partnership with one or more other local education providers, may apply to the department to participate in the grant program in accordance with state board rules and the requirements of this section. At a minimum, each application must include: (a) A plan that, at a minimum, describes how the applicant intends to: (I) Build educator and administrative leadership capacity concerning the development and use of multiple measures of student academic growth; (II) Create and implement a process for developing and using multiple measures of student academic growth to enhance classroom assessment, formative assessment practice, and standards-based instruction and to increase student achievement and academic growth; and (III) Use the results of the multiple measures of student academic growth, which use may include, but need not be limited to, measuring student achievement and academic growth, evaluating educator effectiveness, measuring the performance of a public school, and measuring the overall performance of a school district or BOCES; (b) A statement as to whether the applicant intends to create the multiple measures of student academic growth with the expectation that they may be used solely by the applicant, used by other local education providers for local purposes, or used by the state as part of statewide accountability and accreditation under article 11 of this title or for a combination of these uses; and (c) Whether the applicant anticipates contracting with a person or a public or private entity to assist in developing and using the multiple measures of student academic growth. (3) An applicant must agree to: (a) Participate in an external evaluation of the multiple measures of student academic growth that the applicant creates to determine, at a minimum, the rigor, validity, and reliability of the measures and whether they are appropriate for statewide use; and (b) Submit to the department copies of the resources and materials the applicant creates using money received from the grant program, which the department may make available to other local education providers based on the results of the evaluation. 22-16-104. Grantee selection - rules. (1) The department shall review each application received pursuant to section 22-16-103 and recommend to the state board those applicants that should receive grants and the amounts of the grants. Subject to available appropriations, the state board shall award the grants, taking into consideration the department's recommendations. The department and the state board shall base their recommendations and grant awards on the following criteria: (a) Whether the applicant is a single local education provider or a partnership of two or more local education providers, giving higher priority to applications submitted by partnerships and especially partnerships that include urban and rural local education providers and local education providers with varying student population sizes and demographics; (b) Whether the applicant intends that the multiple measures of student academic growth that it develops will be sufficiently rigorous, valid, and reliable for use by other local education providers and by the state as part of statewide accountability and accreditation under article 11 of this title, giving priority to applications that are most likely to result in measures that are appropriate for widespread use throughout the state; (c) The quality of the applicant's plan and the likelihood that it will result in multiple measures of student academic growth that are rigorous, valid, and reliable for the purposes that the applicant identifies in the application; and (d) The applicant's capacity for developing and using multiple measures of student academic growth that are rigorous, valid, and reliable and whether the applicant intends to contract with a person or entity to assist in developing and using the measures. (2) The state board shall promulgate rules in accordance with the "State Administrative Procedure Act", article 4 of title 24, C.R.S., as necessary to implement the grant program, including but not limited to rules establishing the timelines and procedures applicable to applying for and awarding grants. (3) A grantee may use a portion of the grant money received to contract with a person or a public or private entity, including the department, for assistance in designing and using the multiple measures of student growth in accordance with the grantee's plan. 22-16-105. Student academic growth measures grant program fund - created. (1) The student academic growth measures grant program fund is hereby created in the state treasury. The fund consists of any money that the general assembly may appropriate or transfer to the fund. The state treasurer shall credit to the fund all interest and income derived from the deposit and investment of money in the fund. Any unexpended and unencumbered money remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the fund from which it was appropriated or be transferred to another fund. (2) The money appropriated or transferred to the fund is continuously appropriated to the department for the purposes of this article. Of the money appropriated or transferred to the fund, the state board and the department may annually expend up to five percent of the amount appropriated or transferred to the fund for administrative expenses incurred in administering the grant program and up to two hundred thousand dollars to pay the costs incurred in contracting with an entity and preparing an annual report as required in section 22-16-106. (3) As part of its December 2016 economic and revenue forecast, the legislative council staff shall estimate the ending balance of the state education fund for the 2016-17 budget year. If the estimated ending balance is greater than one hundred million dollars, the state treasurer, on December 29, 2016, shall transfer from the state education fund to the fund an amount equal to the amount by which the estimated ending balance of the state education fund for the 2016-17 budget year exceeds one hundred million dollars; except that the amount transferred shall not exceed ten million dollars. Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the contrary, if the amount transferred to the fund pursuant to this subsection (3) is less than five hundred thousand dollars, the department is not required to implement the provisions of this article for the 2016-17 budget year. 22-16-106. Student academic growth measures - evaluation - report. (1) The department shall contract with an entity to evaluate the rigor, validity, and reliability of the multiple measures of student academic growth that grantees develop and whether the measures are reliable and appropriate for use by other local education providers or for use by the state as part of statewide accountability and accreditation under article 11 of this title. (2) (a) The department shall annually prepare a report that summarizes the evaluations completed pursuant to subsection (1) of this section and provides information concerning implementation of the grant program for the preceding budget year, including the grantees and the amounts awarded. The department shall submit the report to the state board and to the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate, or any successor committees. (b) This subsection (2) is exempt from the provisions of section 24-1-136 (11), C.R.S., and the annual reporting requirements of this subsection (2) are effective until changed by the general assembly acting by bill. SECTION 2. 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.