S.F. 137 Section 1. NEW SECTION . 256.24 Value-added assessment 1 system. 2 1. A value-added assessment system shall be established and 3 implemented by the department not later than January 31, 2012, 4 to provide for multivariate longitudinal analysis of annual 5 student test scores to determine the influence of a school 6 district’s educational program on student academic growth and 7 to guide school district improvement efforts. The department 8 shall select a value-added assessment system provider through a 9 request for proposals process. The system provider selected by 10 the department shall offer a value-added assessment system to 11 calculate annually the academic growth of each student enrolled 12 in grade levels three through eleven and tested in accordance 13 with this section, and shall, at a minimum, meet all of the 14 following criteria: 15 a. Use a mixed-model statistical analysis that has the 16 ability to use all achievement test data for each student, 17 including the data for students with missing test scores, that 18 does not adjust downward expectations for student progress 19 based on race, poverty, or gender, and that will provide the 20 best linear unbiased predictions of school or other educational 21 entity effects to minimize the impact of random errors. 22 b. Have the ability to work with test data from a variety of 23 sources, including data that are not vertically scaled, and to 24 provide support for school districts utilizing the system. 25 c. Have the capacity to receive and report results 26 electronically and provide support for districts utilizing the 27 system. 28 d. Have the ability to create for each school district a 29 chart that reports grade-equivalent scores for grades three 30 through eight and gains between consecutive pairs of grades for 31 each attendance center, and that provides for a district-wide 32 study of grade-equivalent scores. 33 2. Annually, each school district that administers the 34 Iowa test of basic skills or the Iowa test of educational 35 -1- LSB 2068XS (4) 84 kh/nh 1/ 6

S.F. 137 development shall, within thirty days of receiving the test 1 scores, submit the test scores for each attendance center 2 within the school district and each grade level tested, from 3 grades three through eleven, to the system provider selected 4 pursuant to subsection 1. School districts may submit 5 additional assessment data for analysis and inclusion in 6 reports provided to school districts pursuant to subsection 7 3, to the extent that the assessment meets the criteria for 8 valid academic progress interpretation specified by the system 9 provider. 10 3. The system provider shall provide analysis to school 11 districts submitting test scores pursuant to subsection 2, and 12 to the department of education. The analysis shall include 13 but not be limited to attendance-center-level test results 14 for the Iowa test of basic skills in the areas of reading and 15 mathematics and other core academic areas when possible. The 16 analysis shall also include but not be limited to the number of 17 students tested, the number of test results used to compute the 18 averages, the average standard score, the corresponding grade 19 equivalent-score, the average stanine score for the group, 20 the normal curve equivalent of average standard scores, and 21 percentile ranks based on student norms, as well as measures 22 of student progress. The system provider shall create a chart 23 for each school district in accordance with the criteria set 24 forth in subsection 1. 25 4. Each school district shall have complete access to and 26 full utilization of its own value-added assessment reports and 27 charts generated by the system provider at the student level 28 for the purpose of measuring student achievement at different 29 educational entity levels. 30 5. Student academic growth determined pursuant to this 31 section shall not be used in teacher evaluation and shall not 32 be published if individual teacher effects can be surmised. 33 6. Information about student academic growth may be used 34 by the school district, including school board members, 35 -2- LSB 2068XS (4) 84 kh/nh 2/ 6

S.F. 137 administration, and staff, for defining student and district 1 learning goals and professional development related to student 2 learning goals across the school district. A school district 3 may submit its academic growth measures in the annual report 4 submitted pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 21, and may 5 reference in the report state level norms for purposes of 6 demonstrating school district performance. However, unless a 7 school district chooses to submit its academic measures in the 8 annual report submitted pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 9 21, such measures are not public records for the purposes of 10 chapter 22. 11 7. The department may use student academic progress data to 12 determine school improvement and technical assistance needs of 13 school districts, and to identify school districts achieving 14 exceptional gains. Beginning January 15, 2013, and by January 15 15 of each succeeding year, the department shall submit an 16 annual progress report regarding the use of student academic 17 growth information in the school improvement processes to the 18 general assembly and shall publish the progress report on its 19 internet website. 20 8. The department is encouraged to advocate that the United 21 States department of education allow reporting of student 22 academic progress as an additional valid measure of school 23 performance, as an alternative for meeting federal safe harbor 24 provisions, and for establishing statewide progress under the 25 federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110, 26 and any federal regulations adopted pursuant to the federal 27 Act. 28 9. A school district shall use the value-added assessment 29 system established by the department pursuant to subsection 30 1 not later than the school year beginning July 1, 2012. 31 However, the director of educational services of an area 32 education agency may grant a request made by a board of 33 directors of a school district located within the boundaries 34 of the area education agency stating its desire to use an 35 -3- LSB 2068XS (4) 84 kh/nh 3/ 6

S.F. 137 alternative system to compute and report value-added scores 1 that is statistically valid and reliable. 2 Sec. 2. STATE MANDATE FUNDING SPECIFIED. In accordance 3 with section 25B.2, subsection 3, the state cost of requiring 4 compliance with any state mandate included in this Act shall 5 be paid by a school district from state school foundation aid 6 received by the school district under section 257.16. This 7 specification of the payment of the state cost shall be deemed 8 to meet all of the state funding-related requirements of 9 section 25B.2, subsection 3, and no additional state funding 10 shall be necessary for the full implementation of this Act 11 by and enforcement of this Act against all affected school 12 districts. 13 EXPLANATION 14 This bill requires the department of education to establish 15 and implement a value-added assessment system not later than 16 January 31, 2012, to provide for multivariate longitudinal 17 analysis of annual student test scores to determine the 18 influence of a school district’s educational program on student 19 academic growth and to guide school district improvement 20 efforts. The department of education is directed to select a 21 value-added assessment system provider, based on criteria set 22 forth in the bill, through a request for proposals process. 23 School districts are required to use the system not later than 24 the 2012-2013 school year, but may request from the district’s 25 area education agency authorization to use an alternative 26 system. 27 Each school district that administers the Iowa test of basic 28 skills and the Iowa test of educational development must submit 29 the test scores for each attendance center within the school 30 district and each grade level tested, from grades 3 through 11, 31 to the system provider within 30 days of receiving the test 32 scores. School districts may submit additional assessment data 33 for analysis if the data meets the criteria for valid academic 34 progress interpretation specified by the system provider. 35 -4- LSB 2068XS (4) 84 kh/nh 4/ 6

S.F. 137 The system provider must provide analysis to each school 1 district and the department of education, and must also chart 2 data, using criteria set forth in the bill, for each school 3 district. 4 Each school district must have complete access to and full 5 utilization of its own value-added assessment reports and 6 charts. Student academic growth data shall not be used in 7 teacher evaluation and shall not be published if individual 8 teacher effects can be surmised. 9 School districts may use the data for defining student and 10 district learning goals and professional development related to 11 student learning goals across the school district. However, 12 unless a school district chooses to submit its academic 13 measures in the annual report submitted to the department and 14 the local community, the measures are not public records. 15 The department may use the data to determine school 16 improvement and technical assistance needs of school districts 17 and to identify school districts achieving exceptional gains. 18 The department is directed to submit an annual progress report 19 regarding the use of student academic growth information in the 20 school improvement processes to the house and senate education 21 committees and must publish the progress report on its internet 22 website. 23 The department is encouraged to advocate that the United 24 States department of education allow reporting of student 25 academic progress for purposes of complying with the federal No 26 Child Left Behind Act of 2001. 27 The bill may include a state mandate as defined in Code 28 section 25B.3. The bill requires that the state cost of 29 any state mandate included in the bill be paid by a school 30 district from state school foundation aid received by the 31 school district under Code section 257.16. The specification 32 is deemed to constitute state compliance with any state mandate 33 funding-related requirements of Code section 25B.2. The 34 inclusion of this specification is intended to reinstate the 35 -5- LSB 2068XS (4) 84 kh/nh 5/ 6