Assigned to ED AS
PASSED BY COW
Assigned to ED AS
PASSED BY COW
ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Third Legislature, Second Regular Session
AMENDED
schools; annual achievement profiles
Purpose
Modifies annual achievement profiles to include an educational dashboard.
Background
The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) compiles an annual achievement profile for each public school and local education agency (LEA) which is used to determine a standard measurement of acceptable academic progress. Statute requires the annual achievement profile to include, at a minimum, the following indicators: 1) multiple measures of academic performance or other academically-relevant indicators of school quality that are appropriate to assess a school's educational impact, as determined by the State Board of Education (SBE); 2) academic progress on statewide assessments in English, language arts and math; 3) academic progress on the English language learners (ELL) assessments; and 4) progress toward college and career readiness for LEAs offering instruction in any one of grades 9 through 12.
The annual achievement profile is used to determine a school's or LEA's classification based on an A-F letter grade system adopted by the SBE in which a letter grade of A reflects an excellent level of performance and a letter grade of F reflects a failing level of performance (A.R.S. § 15-241).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires the annual achievement profile for each school and LEA to consist of an educational dashboard that reflects the achievement on the academic and educational performance indicators, disaggregated by student subgroup.
2. Applies the A-F letter grade system to each performance indicator of the annual achievement profile and requires an overall letter grade for the school or LEA to be assigned.
3. Excludes performance indicators from being factored into the assigned letter grade if a school or school district does not meet the minimum student count as recommended by ADE and approved by the SBE for that performance indicator.
4. Adds to the list of academic and educational performance indicators included in annual achievement profiles:
a) academic progress on assessments administered through the menu of assessments; and
b) multiple measures of educational performance or other relevant indicators of school quality that assess a school's educational impact, such as graduation and attendance rates.
5. Requires ADE to determine the criteria for each school and LEA classification on each performance indicator of the annual achievement profile.
6. Requires the A-F letter grade system to indicate expected standards of performance for all schools on each performance indicator of the annual achievement profile.
7. Allows the SBE to assign an F letter grade to a school if it determined the school is among the persistently lowest-achieving schools in Arizona on the majority of the performance indicators of the annual achievement profile.
8. Requires the classification on each performance indicator of the annual achievement profile for each school to be included on the school report card.
9. Requires ADE to:
a) establish a deadline for when requests for correcting student data must be submitted;
b) notify the school or LEA of the data correction process;
c) annually process student data correction requests prior to final adoption of the annual achievement profile; and
d) establish an appeals process to allow a school or LEA to appeal a final letter grade, including achievement profile designations based on incorrect data.
10. Requires ADE to issue a recommendation to the SBE for final approval or denial of an appeal.
11. Requires ADE to recommend to the SBE for final adoption:
a) the annual achievement profile;
b) the methodology and criteria for each school and LEA classification;
c) letter grade classifications; and
d) use of achievement profiles and exceptions for accommodation schools, alternative schools and extremely small schools.
12. Makes technical and conforming changes.
13. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Amendments Adopted by Committee of the Whole
1. Specifies what ADE develops and recommends to the SBE for final adoption.
2. Excludes performance indicators from being factored in to the assigned letter grade if a school district does not meet the minimum student count as recommended by ADE and approved by the SBE for that performance indicator.
3. Requires ADE to establish a deadline for when requests for correcting student data must be submitted.
4. Requires ADE to notify the school or LEA of the data correction process and annually process student data correction requests prior to the final adoption of the annual achievement profile.
5. Requires ADE to issue a recommendation to the SBE on final approval or denial of an appeal.
Senate Action
ED 2/8/18 DP 7-0-0
Prepared by Senate Research
March 5, 2018
BL/lb