BILL REQ. #:  H-4073.1 

Read first time 01/16/2006.   Referred to Committee on Education.

     AN ACT Relating to making reforms necessary to improve student academic achievement; amending RCW 28A.165.045, 28A.655.070, 28A.230.195, 28A.655.200, and 28A.655.061; adding new sections to chapter 28A.655 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.165 RCW; recodifying RCW 28A.230.195 and 28A.230.250; and declaring an emergency.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 28A.655 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The legislature finds that, in its effort to comply with the academic assessment schedules established under P.L. 107-110, the no child left behind act of 2001, Washington has had inadequate opportunity to examine options that may include creating an assessment system based on both statewide and local assessments, rather than exclusively on statewide assessments. Therefore, the legislature intends to cease further implementation of a statewide assessment system and request a temporary waiver from statutory requirements of P.L. 107-110 until these options can be fully considered and approved by the legislature.
     (2) As of the effective date of this section, the superintendent of public instruction shall cease all further development, implementation, or administration of the Washington assessment of student learning in grades three, five, six, and eight.
     (3) As authorized under section 9401 of P.L. 107-110, the superintendent shall seek a temporary waiver from federal statutory and regulatory requirements regarding implementation of yearly student academic assessments in mathematics and reading in each of grades three through eight beginning in the 2005-06 school year.
     (4) The superintendent shall examine a range of assessment options that could satisfy the assessment requirements of P.L. 107-110. In particular, the superintendent shall consider locally selected or administered diagnostic assessments that could serve the dual purpose of accountability and providing educators with information to assist individual students. In conducting the examination, the superintendent shall convene and seek input from a review panel that includes school district administrators, local assessment coordinators, teachers, and parents. The superintendent shall submit a report of the findings of the examination along with recommendations for a revised assessment system to the education committees of the legislature by December 1, 2006.
     (5) Any further implementation of the assessment system after the effective date of this section to comply with P.L. 107-110 must be formally authorized by the legislature through legislation or concurrent resolution.

Sec. 2   RCW 28A.165.045 and 2004 c 20 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     A participating school district shall annually submit a program plan to the office of the superintendent of public instruction for approval. The program plan must address all of the elements in RCW 28A.165.025 and identify the program activities to be implemented from RCW 28A.165.035.
     School districts achieving state reading and mathematics goals as prescribed in chapter 28A.655 RCW shall have their program approved once the program plan and activities submittal is completed.
     School districts not achieving state reading and mathematics goals as prescribed in chapter 28A.655 RCW and that are not in a state or federal program of school improvement shall be subject to program approval once the plan components are reviewed by the office of the superintendent of public instruction for the purpose of receiving technical assistance in the final development of the plan.
     School districts with one or more schools in a state or federal program of school improvement shall have their plans and activities reviewed and approved in conjunction with the state or federal program school improvement program requirements.
     School districts in a federal status of needing improvement shall have their plans and activities reviewed and approved as provided under section 3 of this act before expending any state funds provided for the learning assistance program.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 28A.165 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) School districts that are meeting federal standards for adequate yearly progress, educational service districts, the Washington association of school administrators, and the association of Washington school principals shall submit a list to the office of the superintendent of public instruction of programs and instructional strategies that constitute best practices for the learning assistance program and that have been demonstrated to improve student achievement. The list may include but also expand on the program activities under RCW 28A.165.035. The superintendent of public instruction shall publish the combined list of best practices on the agency web site for use by teachers, parents, and the public.
     (2) A school district in a federal status of needing improvement must prepare its program plan using only one or more of the best practices from the list compiled under this section.
     (3) The superintendent shall review the program plan submitted by a school district under this section and may approve the plan or require amendments to the plan before approval. The superintendent shall withhold state funds for the learning assistance program from a school district under this section until the program plan is approved.
     (4) A school district under this section may expend learning assistance program funds only in accordance with the approved program plan.

Sec. 4   RCW 28A.655.070 and 2005 c 497 s 106 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The superintendent of public instruction shall develop essential academic learning requirements that 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 state board of education.
     (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. The office of the superintendent of public instruction, within seven working days, shall post on its web site any grade level content expectations provided to an assessment vendor for use in constructing the Washington assessment of student learning.
     (3) In consultation with the state board of education, the superintendent of public instruction shall maintain and continue to develop and revise a statewide academic assessment system in the content areas of reading, writing, mathematics, and science 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. School districts shall administer the assessments under guidelines adopted by the superintendent of public instruction. The academic assessment system shall include a variety of assessment methods, including criterion-referenced and performance-based measures.
     (4) If the superintendent proposes any modification to the essential academic learning requirements or the statewide assessments, then the superintendent shall, upon request, provide opportunities for the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate to review the assessments and proposed modifications to the essential academic learning requirements before the modifications are adopted.
     (5)(a) 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.
     (b) Assessments measuring the essential academic learning requirements in the content area of science shall be available for mandatory use in middle schools and high schools by the 2003-04 school year and for mandatory use in elementary schools by the 2004-05 school year unless the legislature takes action to delay or prevent implementation of the assessment.
     (6) By September 2007, 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.
     (7) To assist parents and teachers in their efforts to provide educational support to individual students, 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. Beginning with the 2008 assessment, the superintendent shall release the complete high school assessment, including the correct responses, concurrently with the release of the assessment results and shall post the assessment and responses on the superintendent's internet web site. The superintendent shall also provide to school districts:
     (a) Information on classroom-based and other assessments that may provide additional achievement information for individual students; and
     (b) A collection of diagnostic tools that educators may use to evaluate the academic status of individual students. The tools shall be designed to be inexpensive, easily administered, and quickly and easily scored, with results provided in a format that may be easily shared with parents and students.
     (8) To the maximum extent possible, the superintendent shall integrate knowledge and skill areas in development of the assessments.
     (9) 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.
     (10) 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.
     (11) The superintendent shall consider methods to address the unique needs of special education students when developing the assessments under this section.
     (12) The superintendent shall consider methods to address the unique needs of highly capable students when developing the assessments under this section.
     (13) The superintendent shall post on the superintendent's web site lists of resources and model assessments in social studies, the arts, and health and fitness.

Sec. 5   RCW 28A.230.195 and 2005 c 217 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) If students' scores on the test or assessments under RCW 28A.655.070 indicate that students need help in identified areas, the school district shall evaluate its instructional practices and make appropriate adjustments.
     (2) Each school district shall notify the parents of each student of their child's performance on the test and assessments conducted under this chapter.
     (3) Beginning with the 2008 assessment, the notice to parents of the results of the high school Washington assessment of student learning shall include the student's responses compared to the correct responses to test questions and information about how the parent can obtain a copy of the assessment. A school district shall provide an electronic or paper copy of the assessment on request.

Sec. 6   RCW 28A.655.200 and 2005 c 217 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) ((The legislature finds that the mandatory norm-referenced student assessments eliminated under chapter 217, Laws of 2005 provide information that teachers and parents use to improve student learning.)) In the absence of mandatory, statewide, norm-referenced assessments, the legislature intends to ((permit)) provide funding for school districts to offer norm-referenced assessments ((at the districts' own expense and)), make diagnostic tools available ((that provide information that is at least as valuable as the information eliminated under chapter 217, Laws of 2005)), and require diagnostic assessments for early intervention before the high school Washington assessment of student learning.
     (2) In addition to the diagnostic assessments required under subsection (5) of this section, school districts may, at their own expense, administer norm-referenced assessments to students.
     (3) By September 1, 2005, subject to available funds, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall post on its web site for voluntary use by school districts, a guide of diagnostic assessments. The assessments in the guide, to the extent possible, shall include the characteristics listed in subsection (4)(((a) through (e))) of this section.
     (4) ((By September 1, 2006, subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose)) Beginning September 1, 2007, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall make available to school districts diagnostic assessments that help improve student learning. To the greatest extent possible, the assessments shall be:
     (a) Aligned to the state's grade level expectations;
     (b) Individualized to each student's performance level;
     (c) Administered efficiently to provide results either immediately or within two weeks;
     (d) Capable of measuring individual student growth over time and allowing student progress to be compared to other students across the country; and
     (e) Cost-effective.
     (5) To the extent funds are provided, beginning with the 2006-07 school year, school districts shall administer diagnostic assessments in grades eight, nine, and ten to identify academic weaknesses and develop targeted instructional strategies to assist students before the high school Washington assessment of student learning.
     (6) The office of the superintendent of public instruction is encouraged to offer at ((their)) statewide and regional staff development activities training opportunities that would assist practitioners in:
     (a) The interpretation of diagnostic assessments; and
     (b) Application of instructional strategies that will increase student learning based on diagnostic assessment data.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   A new section is added to chapter 28A.655 RCW to read as follows:
     The superintendent of public instruction shall make available to school districts a college placement or college readiness test that districts shall annually offer to students in tenth grade at no cost to the student. Districts shall encourage but may not require students to take the test. The superintendent shall select the test from commercially available products. Results of the tests and relevant student, school, and district characteristics shall be compiled by the superintendent of public instruction and made available to the parents of those students tested. Aggregate results shall be made available to the public and the legislature.

Sec. 8   RCW 28A.655.061 and 2004 c 19 s 101 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The high school assessment system shall include but need not be limited to the Washington assessment of student learning, opportunities for a student to retake the content areas of the assessment in which the student was not successful, and if approved by the legislature pursuant to subsection (11) of this section, one or more objective alternative assessments for a student to demonstrate achievement of state academic standards. The objective alternative assessments for each content area shall be comparable in rigor to the skills and knowledge that the student must demonstrate on the Washington assessment of student learning for each content area.
     (2) Subject to the conditions in this section, a certificate of academic achievement shall be obtained by most students at about the age of sixteen, and is evidence that the students have successfully met the state standard in the content areas included in the certificate. With the exception of students satisfying the provisions of RCW 28A.155.045, acquisition of the certificate is required for graduation from a public high school but is not the only requirement for graduation.
     (3) Beginning with the graduating class of 2008, with the exception of students satisfying the provisions of RCW 28A.155.045, a student who meets the state standards on the reading, writing, and mathematics content areas of the high school Washington assessment of student learning shall earn a certificate of academic achievement. If a student does not successfully meet the state standards in one or more content areas required for the certificate of academic achievement, then the student may retake the assessment in the content area up to four times at no cost to the student. If the student successfully meets the state standards on a retake of the assessment then the student shall earn a certificate of academic achievement. Once objective alternative assessments are authorized pursuant to subsection (11) of this section, a student may use the objective alternative assessments to demonstrate that the student successfully meets the state standards for that content area if the student has retaken the Washington assessment of student learning at least once. ((If the)) When a student successfully meets the state standards either on ((the)) an objective alternative assessment((s then)) or the Washington assessment of student learning, the student shall earn a certificate of academic achievement. The student's transcript shall note ((whether)) how the certificate of academic achievement was acquired ((by means of the Washington assessment of student learning or by an alternative assessment)).
     (4) Beginning with the graduating class of 2010, a student must meet the state standards in science in addition to the other content areas required under subsection (3) of this section on the Washington assessment of student learning or the objective alternative assessments in order to earn a certificate of academic achievement.
     (5) The state board of education may not require the acquisition of the certificate of academic achievement for students in home-based instruction under chapter 28A.200 RCW, for students enrolled in private schools under chapter 28A.195 RCW, or for students satisfying the provisions of RCW 28A.155.045.
     (6) A student may retain and use the highest result from each successfully completed content area of the high school assessment.
     (7) Beginning with the graduating class of ((2006)) 2008, the highest scale score and level achieved in ((each content area)) reading, writing, and mathematics on the high school Washington assessment of student learning shall be displayed on a student's transcript. The highest scale score and level achieved in science shall be displayed beginning with the graduating class of 2010. In addition, beginning with the graduating class of 2008, each student shall receive a scholar's designation on his or her transcript for each content area in which the student achieves level four the first time the student takes that content area assessment.
     (8) Beginning in 2006, school districts must make available to students the following options:
     (a) To retake the Washington assessment of student learning up to four times in the content areas in which the student did not meet the state standards if the student is enrolled in a public school; or
     (b) To retake the Washington assessment of student learning up to four times in the content areas in which the student did not meet the state standards if the student is enrolled in a high school completion program at a community or technical college. The superintendent of public instruction and the state board for community and technical colleges shall jointly identify means by which students in these programs can be assessed.
     (9) Students who achieve the standard in a content area of the high school assessment but who wish to improve their results shall pay for retaking the assessment, using a uniform cost determined by the superintendent of public instruction.
     (10) Subject to available funding, the superintendent shall pilot opportunities for retaking the high school assessment beginning in the 2004-05 school year. Beginning no later than September 2006, opportunities to retake the assessment at least twice a year shall be available to each school district.
     (11)(a) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall develop options for implementing objective alternative assessments, which may include an appeals process, for students to demonstrate achievement of the state academic standards. The objective alternative assessments shall be comparable in rigor to the skills and knowledge that the student must demonstrate on the Washington assessment of student learning and be objective in its determination of student achievement of the state standards. Before any objective alternative assessments in addition to those authorized in (b) of this subsection are used by a student to demonstrate that the student has met the state standards in a content area required to obtain a certificate, the legislature shall formally approve the use of any objective alternative assessments through the omnibus appropriations act or by statute or concurrent resolution.
     (b) A student's score on the mathematics portion of the preliminary scholastic aptitude test (PSAT), the scholastic aptitude test (SAT), or the American college test (ACT) may be used as an objective alternative assessment under this section for demonstrating that a student has met the mathematics standards for the certificate of academic achievement. The state board of education shall identify the scores students must achieve on the mathematics portion of the PSAT, SAT, and ACT to meet the state standard for mathematics.
     (12) By December 15, 2004, the house of representatives and senate education committees shall obtain information and conclusions from recognized, independent, national assessment experts regarding the validity and reliability of the high school Washington assessment of student learning for making individual student high school graduation determinations.
     (13) To help assure continued progress in academic achievement as a foundation for high school graduation and to assure that students are on track for high school graduation, each school district shall prepare plans for students as provided in this subsection (13).
     (a) Student learning plans are required for eighth through twelfth grade students who were not successful on any or all of the content areas of the Washington assessment for student learning during the previous school year. The plan shall include the courses, competencies, and other steps needed to be taken by the student to meet state academic standards and stay on track for graduation. This requirement shall be phased in as follows:
     (i) Beginning no later than the 2004-05 school year ninth grade students as described in this subsection (13)(a) shall have a plan.
     (ii) Beginning no later than the 2005-06 school year and every year thereafter eighth grade students as described in this subsection (13)(a) shall have a plan.
     (iii) The parent or guardian shall be notified, preferably through a parent conference, of the student's results on the Washington assessment of student learning, actions the school intends to take to improve the student's skills in any content area in which the student was unsuccessful, strategies to help them improve their student's skills, and the content of the student's plan.
     (iv) Progress made on the student plan shall be reported to the student's parents or guardian at least annually and adjustments to the plan made as necessary.
     (b) Beginning with the 2005-06 school year and every year thereafter, all fifth grade students who were not successful in one or more of the content areas of the fourth grade Washington assessment of student learning shall have a student learning plan.
     (i) The parent or guardian of a student described in this subsection (13)(b) shall be notified, preferably through a parent conference, of the student's results on the Washington assessment of student learning, actions the school intends to take to improve the student's skills in any content area in which the student was unsuccessful, and provide strategies to help them improve their student's skills.
     (ii) Progress made on the student plan shall be reported to the student's parents or guardian at least annually and adjustments to the plan made as necessary.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 9   RCW 28A.230.195 and 28A.230.250 are each recodified as new sections in chapter 28A.655 RCW.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 10   Section 1 of this act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.