Background:

No Child Left Behind.

The 2001 federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was designed to hold public schools accountable for improving the education of all children. The NCLB created a system of quality ratings for schools and sanctions for schools that do not meet specific goals for student achievement. Schools and districts are required to make "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) by meeting established annual goals for scores on state assessments in mathematics and reading, graduation rates, and unexcused absence rates.

Achievement Index.

History. The 2005 Legislature directed the State Board of Education (SBE) to "implement a standards-based accountability system of academic achievement." The System Performance Accountability Advisory Committee of the SBE met between 2007 and 2010 to develop the accountability system.

In January 2009, the SBE adopted a resolution to develop a fair, consistent, and easily understood Achievement Index (AI) for the purposes of providing feedback to schools and districts to: self-assess, recognize schools with exemplary performance, and identify schools with poor performance.

As part of the 2009 legislation ESHB 2261, the SBE and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) were directed to seek approval for use of the AI for federal accountability purposes under NCLB. In mid-2012 Washington received a waiver to use the AI for federal accountability.

In July 2012, the SBE and the OSPI began to revise the AI to include student growth data and college and career readiness indicators.

Summary of Performance Indicators and Weighting. The revised AI uses three performance indicators: Proficiency, Growth, and Career and College Readiness. The composite AI is the 3-year average of the three most recent annual AI values.

The Proficiency Indicator is a combination of the percent of students who earned a passing score on state assessments in reading, writing, mathematics, and science, weighted equally.
The Growth Indicator is a combination of median student growth percentiles (MSGP) in reading and mathematics, weighted equally.
The Career and College Readiness Indicator is a combination multiple measures of college and career readiness, including graduation rates, dual credit attainment, industry certification, and student proficiency.

Each indicator is rated on a scale from one to 10, then the indicators are weighted as follows:

	Proficiency Indicator	Growth Indicator	Career and College Readiness Indicator
Elementary & Middle Schools	40%	60%	Not applicable
High Schools	33%	33%	33%

Summary of Bill:

By August 31, 2015, the SBE must revise its annual school rating system for the AI to weigh the various performance indicators as follows:

Elementary & Middle Schools, and
High Schools without a College and Career Readiness Indicator
Proficiency Indicator
Growth Indicator
Career and College Readiness Indicator
With Proficiency Indicator of 8.5 or higher
71.5%
28.5%
Not applicable
With Proficiency Indicator of 6.0 or less
40%
60%
Not applicable
With a proficiency indicator greater than 6.0 and less than 8.5
Between 40% and 71.5%, scaled according to Proficiency Indicator Rating
Between 28.5% and 60%, scaled according to Proficiency Indicator Rating
High Schools with a College and Career Readiness Indicator
Proficiency Indicator
Growth Indicator
Career and College Readiness Indicator
With Proficiency Indicator of 8.5 or higher
50%
16.67%
33.33%
With Proficiency Indicator of 6.0 or less
33.4%
33.3%
33.3%
With a proficiency indicator greater than 6.0 and less than 8.5
Between 33.4% and 50%, scaled according to Proficiency Indicator Rating
Between 16.67% and 33.3%, scaled according to Proficiency Indicator Rating
33.3%

Definitions are provided for the following terms: College and Career Readiness Indicator, Growth Indicator, Indicator, and Proficiency Indicator.