SF 30 (LSB 1264XS (4) 87)

SENATE FILE 30

BY  ZAUN

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the Iowa core curriculum and content and assessment standards for school districts and accredited nonpublic schools and including effective date provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 256.7, subsection 21, paragraph b, subparagraphs (2) and (3), Code 2017, are amended to read as follows:
   (2)  Notwithstanding subparagraph (1), for the school year beginning July 1, 2017, and each succeeding school year, the rules shall provide that all students enrolled in school districts in grades three through eleven shall be administered an assessment during the last quarter of the school year that at a minimum assesses the core academic indicators identified in this paragraph “b”; is aligned with the Iowa common core content standards in both content and rigor; accurately describes student achievement and growth for purposes of the school, the school district, and state accountability systems; and provides valid, reliable, and fair measures of student progress toward college or career readiness.
   (3)  The director shall establish no later than July 1, 2017, an assessment task force to review and make recommendations for a statewide assessment of student progress on the core academic indicators identified pursuant to this paragraph “b”. The task force shall recommend a statewide assessment that is aligned to the Iowa common core standards and is, at a minimum, valid, reliable, tested, and piloted in Iowa. In addition, in developing recommendations, the task force shall consider the costs to school districts and the state in providing and administering such an assessment and the technical support necessary to implement the assessment. The task force shall submit its recommendations in a report to the director, the state board, and the general assembly by January 1, 2015 2018. The task force shall assist with the final development and implementation of the assessment administered pursuant to subparagraph (2). The task force members shall include but not be limited to teachers, school administrators, business leaders, representatives of state agencies, and members of the general public. This subparagraph is repealed July 1, 2020.
    Sec. 2.  Section 256.7, subsection 21, paragraph c, Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   c.  A requirement that all school districts and accredited nonpublic schools annually report to the department and the local community the district-wide progress made in attaining student achievement goals on the academic and other core indicators and the district-wide progress made in attaining locally established student learning goals. The school districts and accredited nonpublic schools shall demonstrate the use of multiple assessment measures in determining student achievement levels. The school districts and accredited nonpublic schools shall also report the number of students who graduate; the number of students who drop out of school; the number of students who are tested and the percentage of students who are so tested annually; and the percentage of students who graduated during the prior school year and who completed a core curriculum. The board shall develop and adopt uniform definitions consistent with the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110 and any federal regulations adopted pursuant to the federal Act. The school districts and accredited nonpublic schools may report on other locally determined factors influencing student achievement. The school districts and accredited nonpublic schools shall also report to the local community their results by individual attendance center.
    Sec. 3.  Section 256.7, subsection 26, paragraph a, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   Adopt rules that establish a core curriculum and high school graduation requirements for all students in school districts and accredited nonpublic schools that include at a minimum satisfactory completion of four years of English and language arts, three years of mathematics, three years of science, and three years of social studies.
    Sec. 4.  Section 256.7, subsection 26, paragraph a, subparagraph (3), Code 2017, is amended by striking the subparagraph.
    Sec. 5.  Section 256.7, subsection 26, paragraphs b and c, Code 2017, are amended by striking the paragraphs.
    Sec. 6.  Section 256.7, subsection 28, Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   28.  Adopt a set of core content assessment standards applicable to all students in kindergarten through grade twelve in every school district and accredited nonpublic school. For purposes of this subsection, “core content “assessment standards” includes reading, mathematics, and science. The core content standards shall be identical to the core content standards included in Iowa’s approved 2006 standards and assessment system under Tit. I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, 20 U.S.C. §6301 et seq., as amended by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110. School districts and accredited nonpublic schools shall include, at a minimum, the core content assessment standards adopted pursuant to this subsection in any set of locally developed content standards. School districts and accredited nonpublic schools are strongly encouraged to set higher expectations in local standards. As changes in federal law or regulation occur, the state board is authorized to amend the core content assessment standards as appropriate.
    Sec. 7.  Section 256.9, subsection 49, paragraph a, Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   a.  Develop and distribute, in collaboration with the area education agencies, core curriculum technical assistance and implementation strategies that school districts and accredited nonpublic schools shall may utilize, including but not limited to the development and delivery of formative and end-of-course model assessments classroom teachers may use to measure student progress on the core curriculum adopted pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 26. The department shall, in collaboration with the advisory group convened in accordance with paragraph “b” and educational assessment providers, identify and make available to school districts end-of-course and additional model end-of-course and additional assessments to align with the expectations included in the Iowa core curriculum. The model assessments shall be suitable to meet the multiple assessment measures requirement specified in section 256.7, subsection 21, paragraph “c”.
    Sec. 8.  Section 256.42, subsection 6, Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   6.  Coursework offered under the initiative shall be rigorous and high quality, and the department shall annually evaluate the quality of the courses and ensure that coursework is aligned with the state’s core curriculum and core content requirements and assessment standards adopted pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 28, as well as national standards of quality for online courses issued by an internationally recognized association for kindergarten through grade twelve online learning.
    Sec. 9.  Section 257.11, subsection 9, Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   9.  Shared classes and curriculum standards.  A school district shall ensure that any course made available to a student through any sharing agreement between the school district and a community college or any other entity providing course programming pursuant to this section to students enrolled in the school district meets the expectations contained in the core curriculum adopted pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 26. The school district shall ensure that any course that has the capacity to generate college credit shall be equivalent to college-level work.
    Sec. 10.  Section 260C.14, subsection 22, paragraph b, Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   b.  Collaborate with the state board of regents to meet the requirements specified in section 262.9, subsection 33, including but not limited to developing a systematic process for expanding academic discipline and meetings between the community college faculty and faculty of the institutions of higher education governed by the state board of regents, developing criteria to prioritize core curriculum areas, promoting greater awareness of articulation-related activities, facilitating additional opportunities for individual institutions to pursue program articulation agreements for career and technical educational programs, and developing and implementing a process to examine a minimum of eight new associate of applied science degree programs for which articulation agreements would serve students’ continued academic success in those degree programs.
    Sec. 11.  Section 261E.9, subsection 2, paragraph b, Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   b.  A regional academy may include in its curriculum virtual or internet-based coursework and courses delivered via the Iowa communications network, career and technical courses, core curriculum coursework, courses required pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 26, or section 256.11, subsections 4 and 5, and asynchronous learning networks.
    Sec. 12.  Section 262.9, subsection 33, paragraph c, Code 2017, is amended by striking the paragraph.
    Sec. 13.  Section 279.61, subsection 1, paragraph a, subparagraph (1), Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   (1)  Prepare the student for successful completion of the core curriculum developed high school graduation requirements adopted by the state board of education pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 26, by the time the student graduates from high school. 
    Sec. 14.  Section 279.61, subsection 2, Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   2.  The board of directors of each school district shall report annually to each student enrolled in grades nine through twelve in the school district, and, if the student is under the age of eighteen, to each student’s parent or guardian, the student’s progress toward meeting the goal of successfully completing the core curriculum and high school graduation requirements adopted by the state board of education pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 26, and toward achieving the goals of the student’s career and academic plan.
    Sec. 15.  Section 280.3, subsection 2, Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   2.  The minimum educational program shall be the curriculum graduation requirements set forth in subsection 3 of this section 256.7, subsection 26, and educational program set forth in section 256.11, except as otherwise provided by law. The board of directors of a public school district shall not allow discrimination in any educational program on the basis of race, color, creed, sex, marital status, or place of national origin.
    Sec. 16.  Section 280.3, subsection 3, Code 2017, is amended by striking the subsection.
    Sec. 17.  EFFECTIVE UPON ENACTMENT.  This Act, being deemed of immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill eliminates requirements and references to the (Iowa) common core or core curriculum and to core content standards, but continues to direct the state board of education to adopt high school graduation requirements and assessment standards.
   Provisions directing school districts to cooperate with each eighth grade student on a core curriculum plan to meet core curriculum requirements are amended to replace “core curriculum plan” with “graduation plan” and “core curriculum requirements” with “high school graduation requirements”. The term “core content standards”, which was used to describe the assessment standards adopted by the state board, is replaced with the term “assessment standards”. The assessment standards will remain applicable to all students in kindergarten through grade 12 in every school district and accredited nonpublic school. Corresponding changes are made throughout the Code, and obsolete language is eliminated. 
   The bill takes effect upon enactment.