READ FIRST TIME 03/05/03.   

     AN ACT Relating to state academic standards; amending RCW 28A.655.070 and 28A.655.090; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) By December 1, 2003, the superintendent of public instruction, after consultation with parents, teachers, principals, and other interested parties, shall report to the governor, the state board of education, and the house of representatives and senate education committees with one or more recommendations on the design, administration, scoring, and reporting of assessments for social studies, the arts, and health and fitness.
     (2) By May 1, 2004, the superintendent of public instruction shall report to the governor, the state board of education, and the house of representatives and senate education committees on:
     (a) The review, prioritization, and identification of the essential academic learning requirements and grade level content expectations; and
     (b) Subject to available funding, the results of independent research on the alignment and technical review of the reading, writing, and science content areas of the Washington assessment of student learning for fourth and seventh grades and for high school. The review shall be comparable to the research conducted on the mathematics assessments.
     (3) By November 30, 2004, the superintendent of public instruction shall report to the governor, the state board of education, and the house of representatives and senate education committees on the feasibility of returning the results of the Washington assessment of student learning, including individual student performance information, to schools, teachers, and parents in the same school year in which the assessment is administered.
     (4) By November 30, 2006, subject to available funding, the academic achievement and accountability commission shall report to the governor, the superintendent of public instruction, the state board of education, and the house of representatives and senate education committees on the results of its review of the cut scores needed to meet all grade level content standards on the Washington assessment of student learning. In its report, the commission shall include a schedule for the regular review and adjustment of the cut scores.

Sec. 2   RCW 28A.655.070 and 1999 c 388 s 501 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The superintendent of public instruction shall identify the knowledge and skills all public school students need to know and be able to do based on the student learning goals in RCW 28A.150.210, develop student assessments, and implement the accountability recommendations and requests regarding assistance, rewards, and recognition of the academic achievement and accountability commission.
     (2) The superintendent of public instruction shall:
     (a) Periodically revise the essential academic learning requirements, as needed, based on the student learning goals in RCW 28A.150.210. Goals one and two shall be considered primary. To the maximum extent possible, the superintendent shall integrate goal four and the knowledge and skill areas in the other goals in the essential academic learning requirements; and
     (b) Review and prioritize the essential academic learning requirements and identify, with clear and concise descriptions, the grade level content expectations to be assessed on the Washington assessment of student learning and used for state or federal accountability purposes. The review, prioritization, and identification shall result in more focus and targeting with an emphasis on depth over breadth in the number of grade level content expectations assessed at each grade level. Grade level content expectations shall be articulated over the grades as a sequence of expectations and performances that are logical, build with increasing depth after foundational knowledge and skills are acquired, and reflect, where appropriate, the sequential nature of the discipline.
     (3) In consultation with the academic achievement and accountability commission, the superintendent of public instruction shall maintain and continue to develop and revise a statewide academic assessment system for use in the elementary, middle, and high school years designed to determine if each student has mastered the essential academic learning requirements identified in subsection (1) of this section. The academic assessment system shall include a variety of assessment methods, including criterion-referenced and performance-based measures.
     (4) The assessment system shall be designed so that the results under the assessment system are used by educators as tools to evaluate instructional practices, and to initiate appropriate educational support for students who have not mastered the essential academic learning requirements at the appropriate periods in the student's educational development.
     (a) By September 2006, the results for reading and mathematics shall be reported in a format that will allow parents and teachers to determine the academic gain a student has acquired in those content areas from one school year to the next; and
     (b) In order to assist parents and teachers in their efforts to provide educational support to individual students, including students seeking a certificate of academic proficiency, the superintendent of public instruction shall provide as much individual student performance information as possible within the constraints of the assessment system's item bank. The superintendent shall also provide to school districts information on classroom-based and other assessments that may provide additional achievement information for individual students.
     (5) To the maximum extent possible, the superintendent shall integrate knowledge and skill areas in development of the assessments.
     (6) Assessments for goals three and four of RCW 28A.150.210 shall be integrated in the essential academic learning requirements and assessments for goals one and two.
     (7) The superintendent shall develop assessments that are directly related to the essential academic learning requirements, and are not biased toward persons with different learning styles, racial or ethnic backgrounds, or on the basis of gender.
     (8) The superintendent shall consider methods to address the unique needs of special education students when developing the assessments under this section.
     (9) The superintendent shall consider methods to address the unique needs of highly capable students when developing the assessments under this section.

Sec. 3   RCW 28A.655.090 and 1999 c 388 s 301 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) By September 10, 1998, and by September 10th each year thereafter, the superintendent of public instruction shall report to schools, school districts, and the legislature on the results of the Washington assessment of student learning and state-mandated norm-referenced standardized tests. By 2005, the superintendent shall report the results only of those students whose enrollment in the district is continuous and uninterrupted from October 1st through the testing period, to the extent that the reporting period is permitted by federal law.
     (2) The reports shall include the assessment results by school and school district, and include changes over time. For the Washington assessment of student learning, results shall be reported as follows:
     (a) The percentage of students meeting the standards;
     (b) The percentage of students performing at each level of the assessment; and
     (c) A learning improvement index that shows changes in student performance within the different levels of student learning reported on the Washington assessment of student learning.
     (3) The reports shall contain data regarding the different characteristics of schools, such as poverty levels, percent of English as a second language students, dropout rates, attendance, percent of students in special education, and student mobility so that districts and schools can learn from the improvement efforts of other schools and districts with similar characteristics.
     (4) The reports shall contain student scores on mandated tests by comparable Washington schools of similar characteristics.
     (5) The reports shall contain information on public school choice options available to students, including vocational education.
     (6) The reports shall be posted on the superintendent of public instruction's internet web site.
     (7) To protect the privacy of students, the results of schools and districts that test fewer than ten students in a grade level shall not be reported. In addition, in order to ensure that results are reported accurately, the superintendent of public instruction shall maintain the confidentiality of statewide data files until the superintendent determines that the data are complete and accurate.
     (8) The superintendent of public instruction shall monitor the percentage and number of special education and limited English-proficient students exempted from taking the assessments by schools and school districts to ensure the exemptions are in compliance with exemption guidelines.