COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 104
(By Senators Miller, Wagner, Bowman, Bailey, Boley
Buckalew, Kimble, Minear, Plymale, Deem,
Schoonover, Blatnik and Love)
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[Originating in the Committee on Education;
reported January 31, 1996.]
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A BILL to repeal section three, article two-e, chapter eighteen
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended; to further amend said article by
adding thereto a new section, designated section one-a; and
to amend and reenact sections two and four of said article,
all relating to eliminating the statewide testing of
educational progress program (WV-STEP); creating a new
section requiring the state board of education to recommend
an assessment program and report to the legislative
oversight commission on education accountability; creating an advisory council for the purpose of consulting with the
state board and state superintendent regarding the
recommendation of the assessment program; providing an
option for teachers to administer the WV-STEP test in the
1995-96 school year; and renaming section two of said
article to retain the requirement of the national assessment
of educational progress program testing.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article two-e, chapter eighteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be repealed; that said article be further amended by
adding thereto a new section, designated section one-a; and that
sections two and four of said article be amended and reenacted,
all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2E. HIGH QUALITY EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS.
§18-2E-1a. Recommendation of assessment program; advisory
council established.
(a) In order to further the purposes of this article, the
state board shall recommend to the legislative oversight
commission on education accountability an assessment program for
the measurement of the educational progress of public school
students in attaining a high quality education. A model of such
program shall be presented to the legislative oversight commission on education accountability on or before the first day
of November, one thousand nine hundred ninety-six.
(b) An advisory council is hereby established for the
purpose of consulting with and advising the state superintendent
of schools and the state board of education regarding the
establishment of the assessment program mentioned in subsection
(a) of this section. Members of the council shall be appointed
by the state superintendent and shall include the following: Two
county superintendents, two school principals, three classroom
teachers, and two members of the public at large who are also
members of local school improvement councils. Upon
recommendation of the assessment program to the legislative
oversight commission on education accountability by the state
board, the advisory council shall be terminated.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent
any teacher from administering the statewide testing of
educational progress program (WV-STEP) during the school year of
one thousand nine hundred ninety-five--ninety-six: Provided,
That the cost of duplicating the test and all other related
expenses shall be borne by the state board of education.
§18-2E-2. National Assessment of Educational Progress Program
testing.
(a) The state board shall establish a program for the
statewide testing of the educational progress of public school
students in attaining a high quality education. hereinafter
referred to as the WV-STEP program.
The WV-STEP program shall provide information to:
(1) Assess the overall academic progress of students,
including: (i) Identifying individual students' academic
weaknesses and readiness; and (ii) identifying students who may
need remediation;
(2) Assist the teacher in determining student promotion;
(3) Compare achievement of students in West Virginia to
achievement of students on a national basis;
(4) Assess the strengths and weaknesses of school
performance;
(5) Assess the effects of state and local educational
programs;
(6) Make decisions at the state and local level with regard
to educational matters, including: (i) The need for new or
revised educational programs and the need to terminate existing
educational programs; (ii) overall curriculum development and
revision activities; and (iii) teacher training and staff
development activities. and
(7) Inform the public of the overall quality of education in
individual schools and school districts.
(b) The state board shall prepare detailed design
specifications for the WV-STEP program which accomplish the
following:
(1) Take into account the state learning outcome statements
in the basic skill areas of reading, composition, mathematics and
other subject areas as determined by the state board; and
(2) Include testing of students' higher level cognitive
thinking in each subject area tested.
"Learning outcome statements" means statements developed and
adopted by the state board which for the purposes of this article
have been fully and properly field tested to ensure their
reliability and validity in indicating the knowledge base and
skills expected of students for particular subject areas and
which may be used to measure indicators of statewide standards
for student progress in attaining a high quality education.
(c) The state board shall implement the WV-STEP program as
follows:
(1) Beginning in the school year one thousand nine hundred
ninety--ninety-one and continuing thereafter:
(i) An evaluation designed to measure student readiness to begin the formal school curriculum shall be administered to all
kindergarten public school students. Such evaluation shall be
used solely to assist in making policy decisions at the state and
local levels with regard to educational matters as outlined in
subdivision six (6), subsection (a) of this section, and shall
not be used for individual diagnostic or placement purposes.
(ii) An evaluation model for children in kindergarten, first
and second grades shall be developed by a committee of teachers,
parents and principals selected by each regional educational
service agency board within each regional educational service
agency. The evaluation model shall may be developed using the
following criteria:
(A) The model shall be based on the fact that kindergarten
through second grade is educationally continuous;
(B) The model shall allow for variability in the achievement
of children in kindergarten through second grade;
(C) The model shall be applied continuously to reflect
assessment as a teaching tool;
(D) Information gathered by the evaluation model shall be
used to adapt curriculum and to provide feedback to parents;
(E) The model shall include a measure of achievement of the
state learning outcomes.
The evaluation model, as developed by each regional
educational service agency committee, shall be made available to
the state board and to the legislative oversight commission on
education accountability by the first day of January, one
thousand nine hundred ninety; and
(iii) A criterion referenced test measuring competencies
based on the learning outcome statements shall be administered to
all public school students in grades one and two to measure their
academic progress in reading and mathematics.
and
(iv) A criterion referenced test measuring competencies
based on the learning outcome statements shall may be
administered to all public school students in grades three and
four to measure their academic progress in reading, composition
and mathematics.
The results of the tests shall be used to identify each
student's deficiencies, aid in determining instruction needed by
the student in achieving the statewide standards established for
the respective grade and assist the teacher in determining
student promotion.
(2) Beginning in the school year one thousand nine hundred
ninety-one--ninety-two and continuing thereafter:
(i) A criterion referenced test measuring competencies based
on the learning outcome statements for reading, composition and
mathematics in grade five shall be administered to all public
school students in grade five. Each year thereafter, a criterion
referenced test for these subject areas shall be administered to
students in the next higher grade through grade eight; and
(ii) Criterion referenced testing measuring competencies
based on the learning outcome statements in additional subject
areas shall be implemented as funds are available on a schedule
determined by the board.
(3) Beginning in the school year one thousand nine hundred
ninety--ninety-one, and continuing thereafter, National
Assessment of Educational Progress Program tests shall be
administered in academic areas at the various grades designated
by the National Assessment of Educational Progress officials to
provide comparisons of West Virginia students to a national
sample.
(d) The state board shall revise and update the learning
outcome statements as necessary and shall determine a schedule
for the annual administration of the WV-STEP program tests. The
state superintendent is responsible for the overall development
implementation and monitoring of the program. The state board may establish a pilot program to implement the WV-STEP program
prior to the required implementation dates under subsection (c)
of this section.
(e) Any student who is unable to take any of the tests
prescribed in this section because of absence from school and
provides school authorities with a valid reason for such absence
shall be given the missed test as soon as possible following the
student's return to school. An exceptional child is subject to
testing under the WV-STEP program only to the extent specified in
that child's individualized education program (IEP).
(f) The parent or guardian of each student tested under the
WV-STEP program shall be notified in writing of the students test
score, along with the average test score of all other students in
the same grade at the school. The state board shall promulgate
rules for the compilation of aggregate test scores by grade in
such manner as to permit the comparison of student performance at
different schools within and among the various school districts.
The test scores of all students taking the test at each school
shall be compiled by the district pursuant to such rules, shall
be made available for public inspection and shall be included in
the school and county report cards under section four of this
article. However, no individual student's WV-STEP scores may be disclosed to the public.
(g) The department of education shall take necessary
administrative action under section five of this article to
monitor and evaluate the curriculum and instruction methods in
each school district to ensure compliance with the standards and
purposes of this article.
§18-2E-4. Better schools accountability; school, school district
and statewide school report cards.
(a) For the purpose of providing information to the parents
of public school children and the general public on the quality
of education in the public schools which is uniform and
comparable between schools within and among the various school
districts, the state board shall prepare forms for school, school
district and statewide school report cards and shall promulgate
rules concerning the collection and reporting of data and the
preparation, printing and distribution of report cards under this
section. The forms shall provide for brief, concise reporting in
nontechnical language of required information. Any technical or
explanatory material a county board wishes to include shall be
contained in a separate appendix available to the general public
upon request.
(b) The school report cards shall include:
(1) The following indicators of student performance at the school in comparison with the county, state, regional and
national student performance, as applicable: Student performance
by grade level in the various subjects tested under the statewide
testing of educational progress program; School attendance
rates; the percent of students not promoted to next grade; the
graduation rate; and student mobility (turnover shown as a
percent of transfers out and a percent of transfers in); and
(2) The following indicators of school performance in
comparison with the aggregate of all other schools in the county
and the state, as applicable: Average class size; percent of
enrollments in courses in high school mathematics, science,
English and social science; amount of time per day devoted to
mathematics, science, English and social science at middle,
junior high and high school grade levels; percent of enrollments
in college preparatory, general education and vocational
education programs; pupil-teacher ratio; number of exceptions to
pupil-teacher ratio requested by the county board and the number
of exceptions granted; the number of split-grade classrooms;
pupil-administrator ratio; operating expenditure per pupil;
county expenditure by fund in graphic display; and the average
degree classification and years of experience of the
administrators and teachers at the school;
(3) Every county board of education shall annually determine
the number of administrators, classroom teachers and service
personnel employed that exceeds the number allowed by the public
school support plan and determine the amount of salary
supplements that would be available per state authorized employee
if all expenditures for the excess employees were converted to
annual salaries for state authorized administrators, classroom
teachers and service personnel within their county. The
information shall be published annually in each school report
card of each such county.
(c) The school district report card shall include the data
for each school for each separately listed applicable indicator
and the aggregate of the data for all schools, as applicable, in
the county for each indicator. The statewide school report card
shall include the data for each county for each separately listed
indicator and the aggregate for all counties for each indicator.
(d) The report cards shall be prepared using actual local
school, county, state, regional and national data indicating the
present performance of the school and shall also include the
state norms and the upcoming year's targets for the school and
the county board.
The state board shall provide technical assistance to each county board in preparing the school and school district report
cards.
Each school district board shall prepare report cards in
accordance with the guidelines set forth in this section. The
school district report cards shall be presented at a regular
school board meeting subject to applicable notice requirements
and shall be made available to a newspaper of general circulation
serving the district. The school report cards shall be mailed
directly to the parent or parents of any child enrolled in that
school. In addition, each county board shall submit the
completed report cards to the state board which shall make copies
available to any person requesting them.
The report cards shall be completed and disseminated prior
to the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred
eighty-nine, and in each year thereafter, and shall be based upon
information for the current school year, or for the most recent
school year for which the information is available, in which case
the year shall be clearly footnoted.
(e) In addition to the requirements of subsection (c) of
this section, the school district report card shall list: (1)
The names of the members of the district school board, the dates
upon which their terms expire and whether they have attended an orientation program for new members approved by the state board
and conducted by the West Virginia school board association or
other approved organizations, and other school board member
training programs; and (2) the names of the district school
superintendent and every assistant and associate superintendent
and any training programs related to their area of school
administration which they have attended. The information shall
also be reported by district in the statewide school report card.
(f) The state board shall develop and implement a separate
report card for nontraditional public schools pursuant to the
appropriate provisions of this section to the extent practicable.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the WV-STEP
test; require the state board of education to recommend a new
assessment program and report to LOCEA on or before November 1,
1996; create an advisory council for the assessment program and
to rename section headings.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
§18-2E-1a is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.)