State SealARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 

SB 1449: schools; statewide assessment contracts; review

PRIME SPONSOR: Senator Allen S, LD 6

BILL STATUS: Education

 

Legend: ADE – Arizona Department of Education JLBC – Joint Legislative Budget Committee LEA – Local Education Agency RFP – Request for Proposals SBE – State Board of Education Amendments – BOLD and Stricken (Committee)

Abstract

☐ Prop 105 (45 votes) ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes) ☐ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal NoteRelating to the statewide assessment contract.

Provisions

1.       Allows LEAs to administer the statewide assessment as a written test, on request. (Sec. 1)

2.       Requires ADE to provide SBE with adequate staff support to comply with the menu of assessments.  (Sec. 2)

3.       Directs LEAs that utilize the menu of assessments to receive the same amount of funding for assessments in SY 2019 that was received in SY 2018. (Sec. 2)

4.       Prohibits ADE from renewing or reestablishing a statewide assessment contract, or part of a contract, without JLBC review. (Sec. 3)

5.       Instructs ADE to provide JLBC with information on each current statewide assessment contract, including when the contract expires, by November 15, 2018. (Sec. 4)

6.       Instructs SBE to direct ADE to issue an RFP for the purchase of a statewide assessment, including the menu of assessments, before January 1, 2019. (Sec. 5)

7.       Makes technical and conforming changes. (Sec. 1, 2)

Current Law

A.R.S. § 15-741.02 requires SBE to adopt a menu of locally procured achievement assessments to measure student achievement of the state's academic standards.  Beginning in SY 2019, high school LEAs may begin to select an assessment from the menu instead of using the statewide assessment.  K-8 LEAs may begin to utilize the menu beginning in SY 2020.  SBE was required to approve locally procured achievement assessments that were in use by a LEA by March 1, 2018, on request of the LEA, if the assessment was nationally recognized, an early college credit examination or an assessment adopted for the Grand Canyon Diploma.  SBE is allowed to approve other assessments if the provider is able to meet statutory requirements, including providing evidence that the assessment is high quality, demonstrating that it meets or exceeds the level of rigor of the state standards and demonstrating that scores can be equated for accountability purposes.

Additional Information

After revising the statewide standards, the State selected AzMERIT as the new statewide assessment and began administering it in 2015. The AIMS Science assessment is still used for the science portion of statewide assessment requirements.  More information regarding statewide assessments may be found here.

 

 

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Fifty-third Legislature                  SB 1449

Second Regular Session                               Version 1: Education

 

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