S-4175.1

SENATE BILL 6552


State of Washington	64th Legislature	2016 Regular Session

By Senators McAuliffe, Chase, Dammeier, and Frockt

Read first time 01/26/16. Referred to Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education.

AN ACT Relating to providing school districts with an assessment inventory tool to streamline the assessment system; adding a new section to chapter 28A.300 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.320 RCW; creating a new section; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that educators, parents, and students are concerned that there are too many assessments that are taking valuable time away from teaching and learning. The legislature further finds that school district officials have the opportunity to respond to concerns about overassessment by leading a conversation among educators and the broader community that directly addresses the amount of assessments and points the way toward a more coherent, educationally sound approach to assessment. The legislature intends to provide school districts with an assessment inventory tool for school districts to identify the student assessments administered within the district and determine the amount of student time that is spent taking each assessment. The legislature further intends to have the Washington institute for public policy determine the minimum amount of assessment information necessary for essential diagnostic, instructional, and accountability purposes; to analyze the school district information to evaluate whether the assessments are providing the information necessary for their specific purpose; and to identify any assessments that are duplicative or unnecessary.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:

The superintendent of public instruction shall take the following actions:

(1) Obtain an existing student assessment inventory tool and distribute it to each school district to be used to identify the student assessments administered within the district and determine the amount of student time that is spent taking each assessment. The tool shall be openly licensed to provide free access for school districts and allow for modifications, as needed, to address district differences; and

(2) Take all necessary steps to access federal grant funding to audit state and local student assessment systems under this section and section 3 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 28A.320 RCW to read as follows:

(1)(a) Each school district shall use the student assessment inventory tool distributed by the superintendent of public instruction under section 2 of this act to:

(i) Identify the student assessments administered within the district, including practice and training tests and formative and summative assessments; and

(ii) Ascertain the amount of student time that is spent taking each assessment.

(b) Each district may use the assessment inventory tool and the information gathered under (a) of this subsection to:

(i) Engage educators and the broader community to build a shared understanding of what purpose each assessment is designed to serve, point out both gaps and redundancies overall and for specific populations of students, identify lack of alignment between standards and assessments, identify low-quality assessments, illuminate the resources spent on assessments, and highlight which assessments provide information that is useful to teachers and students and which assessments do not; and

(ii) Determine whether each district or local assessment is providing the information necessary for its specific purposes and identify any assessments that are duplicative or unnecessary.

(c) By September 1, 2017, each school district shall report the information gathered under (a) of this subsection to the Washington state institute for public policy. The report should reflect the amount of student time disaggregated for each identified assessment by grade level and school.

(2) By September 1, 2018, the Washington state institute for public policy shall:

(a) Determine the minimum amount of assessment information necessary for essential diagnostic, instructional, and federal, state, and school district accountability purposes;

(b) Evaluate the school district information provided under subsection (1)(b) of this section to determine whether each assessment is providing the information necessary for its specific purposes;

(d) Report to the legislative education committees of the house of representatives and the senate by September 1, 2018.

(3) This section expires December 31, 2018.