Senate Bill No. 104
(By Senators Miller, Wagner, Bowman, Bialey, Boley
Buckalew, Kimble, Minear, Plymale, Deem,
Schoonover, Blatnik, Love and Walker)
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[Introduced January 22, 1996;
referred to the Committee on Education;
and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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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; and to amend and reenact sections
one, two and four of said article, all relating to removing
the mandate that the statewide testing of educational
progress program (WV-STEP) be administered statewide; and
permitting individual teachers to use the program as an
optional educational tool.
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amended, be repealed; and that sections one, two and four of said
article be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2E. HIGH QUALITY EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS.
§18-2E-1. Legislative purpose.
The purpose of this article is to provide for the establishment of high quality educational standards and to
provide for the optional evaluation of student progress in
attaining the knowledge and skills essential for them to become
productive members of society. and to provide assurances to the
public that a thorough and efficient system of education is being
provided for all public school children in West Virginia
§18-2E-2. Statewide testing of educational progress program
(WV-STEP); purposes, development and implementation
of program.
(a) The state board shall establish a program standard
format to be made available to each county 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 may be administered by
any teacher in West Virginia at their option. If a teacher
chooses to administer the WV-STEP program the cost of duplicating
the test and all other related expenses shall be funded by the
county board by which the teacher is employed.
The WV-STEP program shall may 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 Individual teachers may implement
the WV-STEP program as follows:
(1) Beginning in the school year one thousand nine hundred
ninety--ninety-one ninety-five--ninety-six, and continuing
thereafter:
(i) An evaluation designed to measure student readiness to
begin the formal school curriculum shall may be administered to
all any 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 may 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 may be based on the fact that
kindergarten through second grade is educationally continuous;
(B) The model shall may allow for variability in the achievement of children in kindergarten through second grade;
(C) The model shall may be applied continuously to reflect
assessment as a teaching tool;
(D) Information gathered by the evaluation model shall may
be used to adapt curriculum and to provide feedback to parents;
(E) The model shall may 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 may 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 may 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 ninety-five--ninety-six, 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 may be administered to all public
school students in grade five. Each year thereafter, a criterion
referenced test for these subject areas shall may 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 may 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 for the
development implementation and monitoring of the WV-STEP 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) (e) 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 who were tested. 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the mandate
that the WV-STEP test be administered in all the county schools
and to permit the teachers to have an option as to whether or not
they choose to administer the test. The counties shall bear the
cost of duplicating the test.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.