State SealARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 

SB 1346: schools; assessments; instruction; reporting

PRIME SPONSOR: Senator Allen S, LD 6

BILL STATUS: House Engrossed

                               

 

Overview

Directs the State Board of Education to adopt a plan for the development, implementation, and adoption of a new statewide assessment and menu of assessments, and ☐ Prop 105 (45 votes) ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes) ☐ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal Notemodifies the statutory requirements for the menu of assessments. Additionally, modifies the due date for community colleges to report to Joint Legislative Budget Committee exceptions to their class status requirements for dual enrollment students and amends statutes related to classroom instruction on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

History

Every Student Succeeds Act

In 2015, Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (Public Law 114-95). ESSA requires each state to implement student academic assessments in mathematics, reading or language arts, and science as follows:

·         Mathematics and reading or language arts assessments must be administered in each grade for students in grades 3-8 and at least once for students in grades 9-12; and

·         Science assessments must be administered at least once for students in grades 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12 (20 U.S.C. §6311(b)(2)).

Menu of Assessments

A.R.S. § 15-741.02—which was implemented in Laws 2016, Ch. 10 (HB2544)—requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt a menu of assessments to measure pupil achievement of the State's academic standards. It also allows each local education agency (LEA) to select an assessment from that menu to administer to pupils instead of the AzMERIT, which is the statewide assessment SBE adopted pursuant to A.R.S. § 15-741, with the following timelines:

·         Each LEA that provides instruction in grades 3-8 may select an assessment from the menu of assessments beginning in the 2019-2020 school year; and

·         Each LEA that provides instruction in grades 9-12 may select an assessment from the menu of assessments beginning in the 2018-2019 school year.

Additionally, an LEA may request that an assessment be added to the menu of assessments by March 1, 2018 provided that the assessment is nationally recognized, a qualifying college credit examination, or an assessment adopted for the Grand Canyon Diploma (A.R.S. § 15-741.02).

Dual enrollment

Statute allows community college district governing boards to authorize its community colleges to offer college courses that may be counted toward both high school and college graduation requirements (A.R.S. § 15-1821.01). To do so, the community college district governing board and the school district governing board enter into an intergovernmental agreement or contract that specifies information, such as the amount of full-time student equivalent funding that is distributed to the school district governing board and the community college district and the type and quality of instruction that will be provided (A.R.S. § 15-1821.01(1)).

Students who "dual enroll" in these courses must be high school juniors and seniors (A.R.S. § 15-1821.01(2)(a)). However, a community college may waive this requirement for up to 25% of students enrolled in these courses if the community college has established written criteria for waiving the requirements for each course. Per statute, these criteria must include a demonstration, by an examination of the specific purposes and requirements of the course, and that freshman and sophomore students who meet course prerequisites are prepared to benefit from the college level course. Additionally, statute requires all exceptions and the justifications for the exceptions to be annually reported to JLBC on or before October 1st (A.R.S. § 15-1821.01(2)(b)).

This student enrollment information impacts the amount of state funding that a community college receives. The number of dual enrollment students are included in each community college's full-time equivalent student (FTES) counts (A.R.S. § 15-1466.01(A)(5)), which factor into how much Operating State Aid (A.R.S. § 15-1466) and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics and Workforce Program State Aid (A.R.S. § 15-1464) the Legislature provides to each community colleges. These forms of state aid come from the state General Fund and are subject to legislative appropriation.

Classroom Instruction

Statute allows each school district to provide instruction to kindergarten programs through 12th grade on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) (A.R.S. § 15-716(A)). School districts that offer this instruction are required to notify all parents of their ability to withdraw their child from the instruction and excuse any pupil whose parent requests that they withdraw (A.R.S. § 15-716(F)).

Statute allows each school district to develop its own course of study for AIDS/HIV instruction for each grade, but establishes certain requirements for this instruction, including being appropriate to the grade level at which it is offered, discouraging drug use, and dispelling myths regarding the transmission of HIV (A.R.S. § 15-716(B)). However, statute prohibits a school district from including in this course of study any instruction which:

·         Promotes a homosexual life-style;

·         Portrays homosexuality as a positive alternative life-style; and

·         Suggests that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex (A.R.S. § 15-716(C)).

Provisions

SBE Plan for Statewide Assessment and Menu of Assessments

1.       Directs the SBE to adopt a plan for the development, implementation, and adoption of a new statewide assessment and menu of assessments in grades 3-8 and 9-12 before July 2, 2019. (Sec. 4)

2.       Requires this plan to include a timeline for implementation and the possibility of implementing the menu of assessments in grades 3-8 in the 2021-2022 school year. (Sec. 4)

3.       Mandates that SBE post this plan on the SBE website and provide copies to the Governor, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Senate Education Committee Chair, and House of Representatives Education Committee Chair. (Sec. 4)

4.       Directs the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to collaborate with a diverse group of Arizona educators and school administrators to revise and replace test items for the statewide assessment. (Sec. 4)

5.       Contains a retroactivity clause that applies on July 1, 2019. (Sec. 5)

LEA Selection of Assessment from the Menu of Assessments

6.       Extends to the 2023-2024 school year the deadline for an LEA that offers instruction in grades 3-8 to select an assessment from the menu of assessments instead the statewide assessment. (Sec. 2)

7.       Allows the SBE to designate which grades an LEA that offers instruction to grades 9-12 may administer an assessment from the menu of assessments. (Sec. 2)

8.       Directs the SBE to adopt policies, rules and procedures to carry out these statutory changes. (Sec. 2)

9.       Clarifies that any policy, rule, or procedure adopted may not require an LEA to receive additional approval from the SBE or ADE to select an assessment from the menu of assessments. (Sec. 2)

Dual enrollment

10.   Changes the due date for community colleges to report to JLBC exceptions to their class status requirements for dual enrollment students from October 1 to December 1. (Sec. 3)

Classroom Instruction

11.   Repeals A.R.S. § 15-716(C). (Sec. 1)

12.   Requires those school districts that deliver instruction on AIDS and HIV to provide a description of the course curriculum for this instruction to all parents. (Sec. 1)

Miscellaneous

13.   Makes technical and conforming changes. (Sec. 1, 2, and 3)

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17.   Fifty-fourth Legislature                       SB 1346

18.   First Regular Session                            Version 3: House Engrossed

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