SENATE DOCKET, NO. 409        FILED ON: 1/29/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 293

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Joanne M. Comerford

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act expanding opportunities to demonstrate academic achievement.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 409        FILED ON: 1/29/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 293

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

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An Act expanding opportunities to demonstrate academic achievement.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Subsection (i) of section 1D of chapter 69 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentences:- The competency determination shall be based on the academic standards and curriculum frameworks for tenth graders in the areas of mathematics, science and technology, history and social science, foreign languages, and English, and shall represent a determination that a particular student has demonstrated mastery of a common core of skills, competencies and knowledge in these areas. The board shall offer multiple pathways for students to demonstrate that they have met the mastery standard for the competency determination, including options that do not require a student to take a standardized test.

SECTION 2. Subsection (a) of section 1J of chapter 69 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out the last two sentences and inserting in place thereof the following sentences:- Schools that score in the lowest 5 per cent statewide among schools serving common grade levels on a comprehensive set of measures that include locally established indicators and school quality measures including surveys of parents and students, shall be deemed eligible for designation as underperforming or chronically underperforming, provided that a district’s net school spending must be greater than or equal than its foundation budget. For purposes of this section, such foundation budget in any year shall be calculated as the full amount of the foundation budget, as defined in sections 2 and 3 of chapter 70, notwithstanding the provisions of section 30 of chapter 132 of the acts of 2019.

SECTION 3. (a) The department of elementary and secondary education shall create a grant program within 90 days of the enactment of this act to support the establishment of district task forces to develop and pilot school and district evaluation models. The purpose of the grant program shall be to enable educators, students, parents and local districts to establish a vision and goals for their public schools; to determine how best to evaluate whether or not their vision and goals are being met; and to identify what resources are needed to realize those goals. The grant program shall be managed and administered by the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment, referred to in this section as MCIEA, which shall submit a program design and budget for approval by the Commissioner. Grants to school districts, not to exceed $15,000, shall be funded from the 21st Century Education Trust Fund.

The department and MCIEA shall jointly conduct no less than 4 public hearings in diverse regions throughout the commonwealth to receive public input on designing the grant program and task forces under this section.

(b) A school district task force on assessment shall be formed at the local level in no more than 25 public school districts. The participating school districts shall include districts from each region of the state and include regional school districts, economically disadvantaged school districts as defined in section 3A of chapter 23A of the General Laws and school districts with a significant population of English language learners as defined in subsection (d) of section 2 of chapter 71A of the General Laws.

Each task force shall be co-chaired by the chair of the school committee, or the chair’s designee, and the president of the authorized collective bargaining agent representing licensed educators, or the president’s designee. In addition to the co-chairs, the task force composition shall consist of no more than 9 members of the community, parents, school staff including administrators and educators, and students as appropriate. The members of the task force shall be named by the co-chairs. The task forces may convene within 30 days of notification by the department that a grant has been awarded to the district.

Each task force shall annually report on its progress to MCIEA, which shall further incorporate that information into an annual report to the department of elementary and secondary education.

(c) The department of elementary and secondary education shall make a grant of $100,000 to MCIEA to support its development of a report and findings on the school and district evaluation system, assessment instruments, and requirements regarding underperforming schools and school districts.

The report shall include a review of the performance, efficacy and impact of the commonwealth’s school and district evaluation system, including indicators, the framework and the process used to evaluate school and district performance, including, but not limited to, district and school goals, availability of programs, assessment instruments used to measure academic progress indicators of social, emotional and physical health of students and staff, opportunities for instruction in civics, arts and creative expression, communication and social skills, racial and social equity, and level of resources provided from all sources.

MCIEA shall be supported in the development of its report and findings by an advisory council. The council shall include, but not be limited by the following membership: 8 members selected from school district task forces established in subsection (b), provided that there be at least 1 educator, parent, administrator and school committee member; a member of the house of representatives, to be appointed by the speaker; a member of the senate, to be appointed by the president; the commissioner of elementary and secondary education or a designee; and 1 member each from the American Federation of Teachers, Massachusetts Teachers Association, Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, Massachusetts Association of School Committees, and the Massachusetts Parent Teacher Association. MCEIA shall make every attempt to include representation on the advisory council that reflects the diversity of the Commonwealth’s school population, including each region of the state, regional school districts, economically disadvantaged school districts as defined in section 3A of chapter 23A of the General Laws and school districts with a significant population of English language learners as defined in subsection (d) of section 2 of chapter 71A of the General Laws.

MCIEA shall submit its final report with any recommendations to the department of elementary and secondary education and the joint committee on education no later than 2 years from the effective date of this act.