April 2, 2009, Introduced by Reps. Haase, Lisa Brown, Slavens, Lindberg, Tlaib, Roberts, Espinoza, Liss, Miller, Nathan, Switalski, Haugh, Pavlov, McMillin, Paul Scott, Womack and Genetski and referred to the Committee on Education.
A bill to amend 1976 PA 451, entitled
"The revised school code,"
by amending section 1280b (MCL 380.1280b), as added by 2000 PA 230,
and by adding section 1280c; and to repeal acts and parts of acts.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec.
1280b. (1) Subject to subsection (2) Except as otherwise
provided in this section, the board of a school district, or board
of directors of a public school academy that operates any of grades
1 to 5, shall administer each school year to all pupils in grades 1
to 5 a nationally-recognized norm-referenced test or another
assessment, which may include a locally-adopted assessment,
approved by the superintendent of public instruction at the request
of the school district or public school academy. Beginning in the
2009-2010 school year, this subsection applies only to grades 1 and
2.
(2) A school district or public school academy may use the
Michigan literacy progress profile to assess literacy in grades 1
to 3 as part of its compliance with subsection (1).
(3) If a school is designated for participation in the
national assessment of education progress program, the school shall
participate as designated.
(4) An elementary school that is not in compliance with
subsection (1) or a school that does not comply with subsection (3)
shall not be accredited under section 1280.
Sec. 1280c. (1) To continue the assessment program under
former 1970 PA 38, the superintendent of public education shall
maintain a statewide program of assessment of educational progress
in the basic skills as provided under this section. The program may
be known as the Michigan educational assessment program (MEAP) and
shall assess basic skills in reading, mathematics, language arts,
science, and other general subject areas identified by the
department. The program shall do all of the following:
(a) Establish meaningful achievement goals in the basic skills
for students and identify those students with the greatest
educational need in these skills.
(b) Provide the state with the information needed to allocate
state funds and professional services in a manner best calculated
to equalize educational opportunities for students to achieve
competence in these basic skills.
(c) Provide school systems with strong incentives to introduce
educational programs to improve the education of students in these
basic skills and model programs to raise the level of achievement
of students.
(d) Develop a system for educational self-renewal that would
continuously evaluate the programs and by this means help each
school to discover and introduce program changes that are most
likely to improve the quality of education.
(e) Provide the public periodically with information
concerning the progress of the state system of education. The
programs shall extend current department of education efforts to
conduct periodic and comprehensive assessment of educational
progress.
(2) The Michigan educational assessment program shall cover
all public school pupils annually in all of grades 3 to 8, as
required under the no child left behind act of 2001, Public Law
107-110. If the federal government requires assessments at
additional grade levels under the no child left behind act of 2001,
Public Law 107-110, the superintendent of public instruction shall
ensure that this state complies with those requirements.
(3) The superintendent of public instruction shall supervise
the Michigan educational assessment program and may utilize the
assistance of appropriate testing organizations or testing
specialists. All of the following apply to the assessment program:
(a) Not later than October 1, 2009, the superintendent of
public instruction shall select for each subject area at each grade
level covered by the program a nationally recognized, commercially
available assessment instrument and shall make the assessment
available to school districts and public school academies.
(b) Beginning in the 2009-2010 school year, the board of a
school district, or the board of directors of a public school
academy that operates any of grades 3 to 8, shall administer the
assessments selected by the superintendent of public instruction
under subdivision (a) each school year to all pupils in each of
those grades. The administration and grading of the assessments and
reporting of the results shall be as prescribed by the
superintendent of public instruction.
(c) The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that
any contractor used for scoring an assessment instrument supplies
an individual report for each student that will allow the student's
parents and teachers to assess and remedy problems before the
student moves to the next grade.
(d) The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that
any contractor used for scoring, developing, or processing an
assessment instrument meets quality management standards commonly
used in the assessment industry.
(e) The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that
any contract it enters into for scoring or administering an
assessment instrument includes specific deadlines for all steps of
the assessment process, including, but not limited to, deadlines
for the correct testing materials to be supplied to schools and for
the correct results to be returned to schools, and includes
penalties for noncompliance with these deadlines.
(f) The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that
the assessment instruments meet all of the following:
(i) Are designed to test students on basic skills in all
subjects tested for each grade level tested.
(ii) Comply with requirements of the no child left behind act
of 2001, Public Law 107-110.
(iii) Are consistent with the code of fair testing practices in
education prepared by the joint committee on testing practices of
the American psychological association.
(iv) Are factually accurate.
(4) The Michigan educational assessment program shall assess
competencies in the basic skills and collect and utilize other
relevant information essential to the assessment program.
(5) Based on information from the Michigan educational
assessment program, the public schools shall identify students who
have extraordinary need for assistance to improve their competence
in the basic skills and shall identify students who have
demonstrated extraordinary competence in multiple subject areas who
should be recommended for advancement.
(6) Information from the Michigan educational assessment
program shall be given to each school as soon as possible to assist
it in its efforts to improve the achievement of students in the
basic skills.
(7) The department shall take all steps necessary, including,
but not limited to, conducting a content alignment study and
statistical analyses, to obtain the approval of the United States
department of education to use the assessments selected and
administered under this section the purposes of the no child left
behind act of 2001, Public Law 107-110, by not later than December
31, 2009 or as soon thereafter as possible.
Enacting section 1. 1970 PA 38, MCL 388.1081 to 388.1086, is
repealed effective December 31, 2009.