Report Title:
Educational Accountability
Description:
Holds students, educational professionals, and schools individually and collectively accountable for academic excellence, student safety and well-being, and civic responsibility by requiring establishment of an educational accountability system based on assessment, technical assistance, rewards, sanctions, and reporting.
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
3005 |
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TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to educational accountability.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that an accountability system, primarily involving the process of accepting responsibility and being answerable for one’s actions, should motivate and support improved performance. An effective accountability system clearly links authority and adequate resources to responsibility; defines clear lines of responsibility and mutual obligation; and requires continuous inspection of how well our system and our schools are supporting student attainment of statewide standards. This inspection should lead to recommendations and actions in a continuous improvement cycle.
The purpose of this Act is to establish within the department of education an educational accountability system for Hawai‘i’s public schools that focuses on student learning of the statewide standards and the completion of standards-based graduation requirements which promote academic excellence, students safety and well being, and civic responsibility. The system shall include student accountability; school or collective professional accountability; individual professional accountability for teachers, principals, and other employees; and public accounting for other significant partners to the education process, including but not limited to parents, business, and political leadership.
SECTION 2. Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding eight new sections to part IV, subpart B, to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§302A-A Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context requires otherwise:
"Extended learning opportunities" means interventions beyond normal classroom instruction including, but not limited to, extra instructional time; intensive or focused individual or small group instruction; tutoring; after-school, weekend, or summer study; and mentorships.
"Individual professional accountability" means holding professional personnel responsible for maintaining and enhancing the knowledge, skills, and professional behavior required to perform their duties.
"School or collective professional accountability" means holding professionals and staff within schools collectively responsible for their students meeting the state standards for learning and educational performance. The consequences of collective accountability may include rewards, recognition, provision of assistance, or sanctions. The focus of collective accountability is the school.
"Student accountability" means holding students responsible for meeting the state standards for their learning and educational performance. That performance may be assessed by a state examination or alternate measure equal in technical quality and academic rigor. Accountability consequences may include rewards, recognition, and the provision of voluntary or mandatory extended learning opportunities.
"Student assessment" means systematically studying student work in order to understand and accurately infer what the student knows, is able to do, and cares about doing.
§302A-B Educational accountability system; establishment. The department shall establish a comprehensive educational accountability system that is aligned to statewide standards and promotes academic excellence, student safety and well being, and civic responsibility. The system shall be based on the process of accepting responsibility and being answerable for one’s performance, and shall define goals, measure performance relative to those goals, and invoke a full range of consequences (recognition and reward, assistance, or sanctions) as appropriate, based upon observed performance. The educational accountability system shall focus on students and educational professionals collectively in schools and offices and as individuals in appropriate ways, but may include other role groups in education. The accountability system shall focus on each significant role group in public education in appropriate ways rather than merely inspecting and influencing one role group.
§302A-C Educational accountability system; components and desired attributes. (a) The department shall implement the education accountability system to motivate and support the improved performance of students and the education system. The accountability system shall:
(1) Include student accountability; school or collective professional accountability; individual professional accountability for teachers, principals, and other employees; and public accounting for other significant partners to the education process (including, but not limited to, parents, community members, businesses, higher education, media, and political leadership);
(2) Link authority and adequate resources to responsibility;
(3) Define clear roles for all parties and lines of responsibility and mutual obligation and develop a collaborative process with stakeholders, including representatives of appropriate bargaining units, parents, administration, and students;
(4) Provide fair and adequate assessment against agreed upon goals; and
(5) Provide for a full and balanced set of appropriate consequences for observed performance, including rewards and recognition for those that meet or exceed their goals, assistance to those who fall short, and sanctions for those who, given adequate assistance and ample time, continue to fail to meet goals.
(b) The superintendent of education shall be responsible for the development and implementation of the educational accountability system. The system shall be designed through a collaborative process involving stakeholders including parents, community members, the respective exclusive representatives, and others deemed appropriate by the superintendent.
(c) For the purposes of this section, negotiations under chapter 89 shall be between the superintendent or the superintendent’s designee and the respective exclusive representative, and shall be limited to the impact on personnel arising from the superintendent’s decision in implementing the educational accountability system. After the initial agreement is negotiated, provisions on the impact of the accountability on personnel may be reopened only upon mutual agreement of the parties.
§302A-D Educational accountability system; student assessment and accountability program and administration. (a) The department shall establish a statewide student assessment program that provides annual data on student, school, and system performance by select benchmarks at every grade level in terms of student performance relative to statewide content and performance standards. In developing and implementing the state student assessment program, the department shall:
(1) Satisfy certain specified purposes and attributes or criteria, such as measured progress toward attainment of the standards;
(2) Assess, at a minimum, student achievement in the content areas of reading, writing, and mathematics;
(3) Provide fair, technically rigorous, and adequate measurement;
(4) Establish levels of individual student performance relative to the statewide standards on the state assessments in reading, writing, and mathematics;
(5) Include statewide student assessment by nationally used assessment tools at select benchmark grade levels to enable assessment relative to nationwide performance standards; and
(6) Support the development of equivalent alternatives to the state assessments so students have multiple ways to demonstrate accomplishment of the standards.
(b) The department also shall establish programs to recognize and reward students who meet or exceed the expectations for achievement specified by statewide standards, as measured by the state assessments or equivalent alternatives. The department also shall identify the levels of performance on state assessments and equivalent alternatives in reading, writing, and mathematics that are inadequate to demonstrate accomplishment of the standards and that warrant requiring schools to provide and students to participate in extended learning opportunities such as enhanced or intensive instructional intervention as a precondition to progressing to the next assessment benchmark.
(c) The student assessment and accountability program shall include:
(1) An annual assessment in core subjects for each grade level, as conducted by each school;
(2) Safety and well-being tracking based on adherence to the Board of Education's Student Code of Conduct and monitoring of class A and B offenses of chapter 19 of the Hawaii administrative rules; and
(3) Selected benchmark grade level assessment relative to civic responsibility that may include demonstration of some elements of knowledge from the Social Studies HCPSII, Career and Life Skills HCPSII, and service learning.
§302A-E Educational accountability system; school or collective professional accountability program and administration. The department shall develop a program for school or collective professional accountability centered on student achievement of the standards. The school accountability program shall be developed according to the following principles and specifications:
(1) Educational professionals shall be held accountable for that which they can, be expected to accomplish; they shall not be held accountable as individuals for requirements that they cannot as individuals accomplish;
(2) Student achievement shall require the considerable and focused efforts of many professionals acting collectively. The school accountability program therefore shall establish aggregate student achievement as the focus of collective accountability, with the school as the proper unit of measurement; and
(3) Key elements shall include:
(A) Establishment of baseline performance on the state assessments;
(B) Establishment of improvement goals based upon baseline performance;
(C) Continuous monitoring through repeated measurement and reports of performance annually, with formal biennial increments in a school’s performance evaluation (two years of data) serving to mark progress and to designate a school’s accountability classification;
(D) Invocation of appropriate consequences, rewards, and recognitions for those schools that meet or exceed their goals, assistance to those that fall short, and sanctions for those that given adequate assistance and ample time, continue to fail to meet goals:
(i) Rewards and recognition may include, but are not limited to, certificates of achievement, award ceremonies, and financial incentives;
(ii) Assistance may include, but is not limited to, technical assistance or consultation and the dispatch of school accountability review panels, provision of resources to enable plans addressing identified needs; and
(iii) Sanctions may include, but are not limited to, receiverships in which there is external oversight by a distinguished educator or panel of educators, or partial reconstitution in which the leadership, portions of the faculty, or both are reassigned and new professionals are placed in their stead. Prior to sanctions being invoked, careful review shall be conducted by a five-member school accountability review panel comprised of a representative from the office of the superintendent, a principal, a teacher, a parent, and a community representative. The context and circumstances at the school must be carefully examined as part of the preparation required in making a recommendation to the superintendent regarding appropriate action and any possible sanctions.
(E) A multi-year time frame commencing with the 2002-2003 biennium to establish baselines; a first comparative point in 2004-2005 resulting in the identification of schools that may need to be placed on probationary status; and a second comparative point in 2006-2007 resulting in recognition or rewards for high achievement or, in the case of continued low performance, review by a panel, with appropriate sanctions, if justified, imposed as early as 2007.
§302A-F Educational accountability system; individual professional accountability programs and administration. (a) The department shall ensure that its workforce is competent and well prepared. The goal of teacher, school administrator, and support office administrator accountability is to raise student achievement of the standards by improving professional accountability for Hawaii educators. The department shall develop programs for improving professional accountability for teachers, school administrators, and support office administrators.
(b) The professional accountability programs shall specify:
(1) The desired attributes of the programs;
(2) The standard-setting bodies and the standards to be used as related to approval of in-state educator preparation programs, initial licensure or certification, regular licensure or certification following an induction period, performance evaluation, and re-licensing or recertification;
(3) Development implementation schedules;
(4) Required funding and statutory supports; and
(5) That teachers and administrators engage in the continuous professional growth and development that ensure their currency with respect to disciplinary content, leadership skill, knowledge, or pedagogical skill, as appropriate to their position. This requirement may be established by the department in terms of credit hours earned or their equivalent in professional development activity certified by the department as appropriate in focus and rigor.
(c) The professional accountability programs shall establish an explicit link between professional evaluation results and individual accountability through professional development of the knowledge, skill, and professional behavior necessary to the position, by requiring that results of the professional evaluation be used by the department to prescribe professional development focus and content, as appropriate.
§302A-G Educational accountability system; public accounting for other constituents program and administration. The department may engage other relevant agencies in the regular assessment of the impact of and directing attention to the actions and policy positions of individuals and organizations that affect performance of students and schools relative to the state standards and their ability to be accountable for meeting those standards. The assessments may be focused upon the business community and its advocacy and support of education, political leadership with respect to its voting record on educational issues, and parents and their support of student learning and their endorsement of high standards. The agencies to be engaged may include the University of Hawaii, its Hawaii education policy center, or other neutral organizations that operate in the public interest.
§302A-H Educational accountability system; reporting requirements. (a) The department shall prepare annual reports that involve a comprehensive school profile or report card for each school which shall include but not be limited to, student performance measures, failure rates by courses and grade levels, school attendance, drop-out rates, suspension and expulsion rates, teacher retention, and parental involvement. Where possible, each report shall provide:
(1) The total student population of the school,
(2) Students' ethnic background
(3) Students' qualification for free or reduced cost lunches.
These reports shall be submitted annually to the board, the governor, and the legislature, and made available to parents of the respective school, and the general public.
(b) The department shall submit to the legislature and to the governor, at least twenty days prior to the convening of each regular legislative session, an educational status report that includes but is not limited to the following:
(1) Results of school-by school assessments of educational outcomes;
(2) Summaries of each school’s standards implementation design;
(3) Summary descriptions of the demographic makeup of the schools, with indications of the range of these conditions among schools within Hawaii;
(4) Comparisons of conditions affecting Hawaii’s schools with the conditions of schools in other states; and
(5) Other such assessments as may be deemed appropriate by the department.
(c) The department shall provide electronic access to computer-based financial management, student information, and other information systems to the legislature and the auditor. The department shall submit to the legislature and to the governor, at least twenty days prior to the convening of each legislative session, a school-by-school expenditure report that includes but is not limited to the following:
(1) A financial analysis of expenditures by the department with respect to the following areas:
(A) Instruction, including face-to-face teaching, and classroom materials;
(B) Instructional support, including pupil, teacher and program support;
(C) Operations, including non-instructional pupil services, facilities, and business services;
(D) Other commitments, including contingencies, capital improvement projects, out-of-district obligations, and legal obligations; and
(E) Leadership, including school management, program and operations management, and district management; and
(2) The measures of accuracy, efficiency, and productivity of the department, districts, and schools in delivering resources to the classroom and the student.
(d) The department shall submit to the board of education, the governor, and the legislature, at least twenty days prior to the convening of each regular legislative session, a report on the status of the implementation of the educational accountability system, as well as the fiscal requirements and legislative actions necessary to sustain the accountability system."
SECTION 3. Section 302A-1004, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is repealed.
["§302A-1004 Educational accountability system; annual reports. (a) The department shall implement a comprehensive system of educational accountability to motivate and support the improved performance of students and the education system. This accountability system shall:
(1) Include student accountability; school or collective professional accountability; individual professional accountability for teachers, principals, and other employees; and public accounting for other significant partners to the education process (including, but not limited to, parents, community members, businesses, higher education, media, and political leadership);
(2) Link authority and adequate resources to responsibility;
(3) Define clear roles for all parties and lines of responsibility and mutual obligation and develop a collaborative process with stakeholders, including representatives of appropriate bargaining units, parents, administration, and students;
(4) Involve fair and adequate assessment against agreed upon goals;
(5) Invoke a full and balanced set of appropriate consequences for observed performance, including rewards and recognition for those schools that meet or exceed their goals, assistance to those that fall short, and sanctions for those that given adequate assistance and ample time, continue to fail to meet goals;
(6) Involve:
(A) A statewide student assessment program that provides annual data on student, school, and system performance at selected benchmark grade levels in terms of student performance relative to statewide content and performance standards and embodies high and rigorous expectations for the attainment of all students; and
(B) An annual assessment in core subjects for each grade level, as conducted by each school;
(7) Involve a comprehensive school profile or report card for each school, which shall include, but not be limited to, student performance measures, school attendance, drop-out rates, and parental involvement. These reports shall be made available annually to the board, the governor, the legislature, the parents, and the general public;
(8) Require that teachers and administrators engage in the continuous professional growth and development that ensure their currency with respect to disciplinary content, leadership skill, knowledge, or pedagogical skill, as appropriate to their position. This requirement may be established by the department in terms of credit hours earned or their equivalent in professional development activity certified by the department as appropriate in focus and rigor; and
(9) Establish an explicit link between professional evaluation results and individual accountability through professional development of the knowledge, skill, and professional behavior necessary to the position, by requiring that results of the professional evaluation be used by the department to prescribe professional development focus and content, as appropriate.
Beginning with the 2001-2002 school year, the department shall submit to the legislature, the governor, and the board of education at least twenty days prior to the convening of each regular legislative session a report of the specifics of the design of the comprehensive accountability system, as well as the fiscal requirements and legislative actions necessary to create the accountability system.
(b) The department shall submit to the legislature and to the governor, at least twenty days prior to the convening of each regular legislative session, an educational status report that includes but is not limited to the following:
(1) Results of school-by-school assessments of educational outcomes;
(2) Summaries of each school's standards implementation design;
(3) Summary descriptions of the demographic makeup of the schools, with indications of the range of these conditions among schools within Hawaii;
(4) Comparisons of conditions affecting Hawaii's schools with the conditions of schools in other states; and
(5) Other such assessments as may be deemed appropriate by the board.
(c) The department shall provide electronic access to computer-based financial management, student information, and other information systems to the legislature and the auditor. The department shall submit to the legislature and to the governor, at least twenty days prior to the convening of each legislative session, a school-by-school expenditure report that includes but is not limited to the following:
(1) The financial analysis of expenditures by the department with respect to the following areas:
(A) Instruction, including face-to-face teaching, and classroom materials;
(B) Instructional support, including pupil, teacher, and program support;
(C) Operations, including non-instructional pupil services, facilities, and business services;
(D) Other commitments, including contingencies, capital improvement projects, out-of-district obligations, and legal obligations; and
(E) Leadership, including school management, program and operations management, and district management; and
(2) The measures of accuracy, efficiency, and productivity of the department, districts, and schools in delivering resources to the classroom and the student.
(d) The superintendent of education is responsible for the development and implementation of an educational accountability system. The system shall include consequences and shall be designed through a collaborative process involving stakeholders that shall include parents, community members, the respective exclusive representatives, as well as others deemed appropriate by the superintendent.
For the purposes of this section, negotiations under chapter 89 shall be between the superintendent or the superintendent's designee and the respective exclusive representative, and shall be limited to the impact on personnel arising from the superintendent's decision in implementing the educational accountability system. After the initial agreement is negotiated, provisions on the impact of the accountability on personnel may be reopened only upon mutual agreement of the parties."]
SECTION 4. The department of education shall submit a report on the status of the implementation of the educational accountability system to the legislature and the governor, at least twenty days prior to the convening of the regular legislative session of 2003."
SECTION 5. In codifying the new sections added by section 2 of this Act, the revisor of statutes shall substitute appropriate section numbers for the letters used in designating the new sections in this Act.
SECTION 6. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 7. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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