SENATE, No. 255

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

In the Year Two Thousand and One.

AN ACT TO REQUIRE A COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT SYSTEM FOR STUDENTS, SCHOOLS AND DISTRICTS.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1.
Chapter 15 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1998 Official Edition, is hereby amended by deleting section 55A and inserting in place thereof the following:-

Section 55A.There shall be established an office of school fiscal auditing and governance oversight, hereinafter referred to as the office, within the department of education, but not subject to its control. The purpose of the office shall be to audit the expenditure of all funds expended by any public school or school district and compliance with all state and federal legal requirements. The office shall have the power to require the officers of any public school, howsoever chartered or organized, or school district to supply in a timely manner any information determined by the office to be necessary to carry out the foregoing responsibilities. Said officers shall convey the requested information to the office with a signed statement to the effect that the information is accurate and complete to the best of his or her ability.The office shall be governed by a board of directors with one representative chosen by each of the following state agencies:the department of education; the department of revenue; the auditor of the commonwealth; the inspector general of the commonwealth; and by one representative chosen by each of the following organizations:the massachusetts association of school superintendents; the massachusetts municipal association; the massachusetts association of school committees; the massachusetts teachers association; the massachusetts federation of teachers; the masssachusetts elementary schools principals association; the massachusetts secondary schools administrators association; the massachusetts association of regional schools; the massachusetts association of vocational administrators; the massachusetts parent teacher association; and, the massachusetts business alliance for education.

SECTION 2. The first paragraph of Section 1D of chapter 69 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1998 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following sentence to the end thereof:-

Before taking effect, the standards shall be reviewed and approved by the state affiliate of the professional association representing the academic discipline, or their successors as the case may be, for each standard as follows: in mathematics by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics; in English Language Arts by the National Council of Teachers of English, the International Reading Association and the National Association of Bilingual Educators; in science and technology by the National Association of Science Teachers, the National Technology Education Association and the Association for Career and Technical Education; in health by the National Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, the American School Counselors Association and the National Association of School Psychologists; in the arts by the National Art Education Association, the National Alliance for the Arts and the National Music Educators Association; in social studies by the National Council for the Social Studies, the National Council for History Education and the National Geographic Alliance; and in foreign languages by the National Foreign Language Association.

SECTION 3.The third paragraph of section 1E of chapter 69 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following sentence to the end thereof:-

Before taking effect, the standards shall be reviewed and approved by the state affiliate of the professional association representing the academic discipline, or their successors as the case may be, for each standard as follows: in mathematics by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics; in English Language Arts by the National Council of Teachers of English, the International Reading Association and the National Association of Bilingual Educators; in science and technology by the National Association of Science Teachers, the National Technology Education Association and the Association for Career and Technical Education; in health by the National Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, the American School Counselors Association and the National Association of School Psychologists; in the arts by the National Art Education Association, the National Alliance for the Arts and the National Music Educators Association; in social studies by the National Council for the Social Studies, the National Council for History Education and the National Geographic Alliance; and in foreign languages by the National Foreign Language Association.

SECTION 4. Section 1D of chapter 69 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding after the word “determination” in line 54 the following words:-
,according to the evaluation system established by the district or Commonwealth charter school according to section one I of this chapter,

SECTION 5. Section 1D of chapter 69 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding after the word “graduation” in line 59 the following words:-
;provided however, that the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (“MCAS”) test, so called, or other standardized test, shall not be a component of the competency determination.

SECTION 6. Section 1I of chapter 69 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking the first through fourth paragraphs, and inserting in place thereof the following five paragraphs:-

Every ten years each public school, including a Commonwealth and a Horace Mann charter school, shall take the steps necessary to become accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, hereinafter referred to as NEASC. The governing school district, if any, shall take all steps necessary to assist each school in its district to achieve such accreditation. If, after four years from the beginning of the accreditation process, a school fails to achieve accreditation, fails to make significant progress toward accreditation or is placed on probation status by the NEASC, the commissioner may initiate proceedings pursuant to section one J of this chapter.

The commissioner may determine the priority order for schools to begin the accreditation process and may use previous poor performance on the MCAS or lack of improvement on the MCAS to require schools to be among the first schools to begin the accreditation process.

Each school district shall develop and adopt a system for evaluating on an annual basis the performance of both the district and individual public schools within the district, including Horace Mann charter schools. Each Commonwealth charter school shall develop and adopt a system for evaluating on an annual basis the performance of the school.With respect to individual schools, the system shall include instruments designed to assess the extent to which the school and district have succeeded in improving or have failed to improve student performance, as defined by student acquisition of the skills, competencies and knowledge called for by the academic standards and embodied in the curriculum frameworks established by the board pursuant to sections one D and one E in the areas of mathematics, science and technology, history and social science, English, foreign languages and the arts, as well as by other gauges of student learning judged by the district to be relevant and meaningful to students, parents, teachers, administrators, and taxpayers.

Each system shall be designed both to measure outcomes and results regarding student performance, and to improve the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction. In its design and application, each system shall strike a balance among considerations of accuracy, fairness, expense and administration. Each system shall employ a variety of assessment instruments on either a comprehensive or statistically valid sampling basis. Such instruments shall be criterion referenced, assessing whether students are meeting the academic standards described in this chapter. As much as is practicable, especially in the case of students whose performance is difficult to assess using conventional methods, such instruments shall include consideration of work samples, projects and portfolios, and shall facilitate authentic and direct gauges of student performance. Each system shall be approved by the school committee, or by the governing board of any school not under the direction and control of a school committee, and shall meet the NEASC standards on assessment. Every school district must submit a written summary of its proposed assessment system to the Department of Education for review prior to the implementation of said system.

In addition, each district or Commonwealth charter school shall, under procedures and guidelines established by the department, administer the following tests as part of its assessment system: the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in Reading in Grade 3; a standardized statewide test, established by the department, in English language arts every two years beginning in grade 5; a standardized statewide test, established by the department, in mathematics every two years beginning in grade 4; standardized end-of-course assessments, established by the department, in history and social studies in grades 9 and 10; standardized end-of-course assessments, established by the department, in science in grades 9 and 10; and local assessments in foreign languages, arts and health. Said tests and assessments shall be used only for purposes of diagnosis, remediation, and assessment of the extent to which the school’s students have acquired the skills, competencies and knowledge called for by the academic standards and embodied in the curriculum frameworks established by the board pursuant to sections one D and one E, and shall not be used to deny any student graduation or any other benefit of public education. Test scores shall be reported to each student and to his or her parents or guardians and shall be reported in the aggregate at the school and district level.

Prior to the use of any state tests described in the previous paragraph, the tests shall be reviewed and approved by the state affiliate of the professional association representing the academic discipline, or their successors as the case may be, for each test as follows: mathematics by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics; English Language Arts by the National Council of Teachers of English, the International Reading Association and the National Association of Bilingual Educators; science and technology by the National Association of Science Teachers, the National Technology Education Association and the Association for Career and Technical Education; health by the National Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, the American School Counselors Association and the National Association of School Psychologists; arts by the National Art Education Association, the National Alliance for the Arts and the National Music Educators Association; social studies by the National Council for the Social Studies, the National Council for History Education and the National Geographic Alliance; and foreign languages by National Foreign Language Association.

Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the contrary, reporting by the department of performance levels of the MCAS tests, so called, shall be by numerical categories and shall not be by any qualitative description, such as “advanced”, “proficient”, “needs improvement” or “failing”.

The department shall provide technical assistance to schools and school districts to achieve the accreditation and implement the evaluation systems required by this section, including the development of models for local evaluation systems. The department shall fund all costs associated with achieving and maintaining accreditation by the NEASC, including teacher reassign time, substitute teachers and other staff participation costs associated with the accreditation process, as well as all costs associated with the performance evaluation systems required by this section.

SECTION 7. Section 1I of chapter 69 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting the following paragraph at the end thereof:-

Each public school, including a Commonwealth and a Horace Mann charter school, shall annually report to the public how all its students have performed under the assessment system established by the district, or by the school in the case of a Commonwealth charter school. The report shall be in a uniform format within each school district, or within the school in the case of a Commonwealth charter school, and shall break down the data by race, gender, special education or transitional bilingual education status and such other categories as the district or school deems useful. The report shall include how each school’s performance relates to its school improvement plan. The report shall also include the school’s progress in obtaining or renewing accreditation by the NEASC.

SECTION 8. Chapter 69 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking section 1J and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 1J. If, after four years from the beginning of the accreditation process, a school fails to achieve accreditation required by section one D, fails to make significant progress toward accreditation or is placed on probation status by the NEASC, the commissioner may appoint an independent fact-finding team to assess the reasons for the non-accreditation, failure to make progress or probation status, and the prospects for improvement. Upon review of the conclusions of the fact-finding team, the board may, according to regulations established by the board, declare the school chronically under-performing.

Upon a determination that a school is chronically under-performing, the following steps may be taken:

(1) The principal of the school shall be immediately removed and shall not be assigned to the school for the following school year unless the board finds that the principal did not play a significant role in the under-performance of the school;

(2) The superintendent may designate a new principal for the school;

(3) If the school does not receive funding from the district at least equal to the average per pupil funding received for students of the same classification and grade level in the district, the district shall provide additional funding sufficient to bring funding for that school to such level;

(4) Such other actions determined by the board of education, to be reasonably calculated to increase the number of students attending the school who satisfy the student performance standards.

SECTION 9.   Chapter 69 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking section 1K and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 1K. If, after four years from the beginning of the accreditation process, more than one-third of the schools in a district fail to achieve accreditation required by section 1D, fail to make significant progress toward accreditation or are placed on probation status by the NEASC, the commissioner shall appoint an independent fact-finding team to assess the reasons for the non-accreditation, failure to make progress or probation status, and the prospects for improvement.  Upon review of the conclusions of the fact-finding team, the board may, according to regulations established by the board, declare the district chronically under-performing.  Following such a declaration, the board shall designate a receiver for the district with all the powers of the superintendent and school committee or other applicable executive officer and governing board.  The receiver shall report directly to the commissioner. For purposes of this section, the term “district” shall include a Commonwealth charter school.

   If a municipality has failed to fulfill its fiscal responsibilities to education under chapter seventy, the commissioner shall recommend to the board that the district be declared chronically under-performing.  The municipality's mayor or chairman of the board of selectmen shall have the opportunity to present evidence to the board.  A vote by the board that a school district is chronically under-performing for fiscal reasons shall authorize the commissioner to petition the commissioner of revenue to require an increase in funds for the school district, alleging that the amount necessary in said community for the support of public schools has not been included in the annual budget appropriations. The commissioner of revenue shall determine the amount of any deficiency pursuant to the sums required under chapter seventy, if any, and issue an order compelling the community to provide a sum of money equal to such deficiency.  If the community does not provide a sum of money equal to such deficiency, the commissioner of revenue, in accordance with his powers in section twenty-three of chapter fifty-nine, shall not approve the tax rate of the community for the fiscal year until the deficiency is alleviated.This section shall not be construed to create a cause of action for educational malpractice by students or their parents, guardians or persons acting as parents.

SECTION 10.   The Commissioner of Education shall select a panel of three experts from out-of-state from a list of nationally qualified experts in educational testing provided by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, and two educators, one an elementary teacher and the other a secondary school teacher, from a list of experienced teachers provided by the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers, to perform a study of the validity, reliability, quality and age and language appropriateness of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests as used in the public schools.

The Commissioner of Education shall enter into a contract on behalf of the Department of Education, with the selected panel of experts to conduct such a study. Said contract shall require that the study be completed no later than December 31, 2001.The Commissioner and the Department of Education shall assist the panel in obtaining all information, documents or other evidence necessary to conduct the study.

The findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Commission shall be presented to the Board of Education and to the Joint Committee on Education, Arts and Humanities no later than March 1, 2002.