HB 1490 Requires the State Board of Education to convene work groups to develop new academic performance standards

     Handler: Emery

Current Bill Summary

- Prepared by Senate Research -


CCS#2/SS/SCS/HB 1490 - This act modifies provisions relating to elementary and secondary education standards.

SECTION 160.514: This act requires the State Board of Education to convene work groups composed of education professionals whenever it develops, evaluates, modifies, or revises either academic performance standards or learning standards. This act creates a new selection process for teachers who serve on work groups to develop and recommend academic performance standards. This act removes the requirement that the majority of work group members be active classroom teachers. For each subject area, the State Board must convene two separate work groups, one for grades kindergarten through five and another for grades six through twelve.

The President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives will each select two parents of school age children to serve as members. In addition, the President Pro Tempore and the Speaker will each select two education professionals. The following organizations and persons will each select one education professional for each work group: a statewide association of Missouri school boards, the Governor, and the Lieutenant Governor. The State Board of Education must select an education professional from names submitted to it from the following entities: the professional teacher organizations of the state; a statewide coalition of school administrators; nationally-recognized career and technical education student organizations operating in Missouri; and the heads of state-approved baccalaureate-level teacher preparation programs located in Missouri. For the work groups for grades six through twelve, the State Board of Education must also appoint a current or retired career and technical education professional who serves or has served as an advisor to a nationally-recognized career and technical education student organization, from names submitted by such statewide career and technical education organizations.

Teachers do not need to be members of a professional teacher organization to serve on a work group. Each work group member must be a Missouri resident for three years and have either taught in the work group's subject area for ten years or have ten years of experience in that subject area, with the exception of the parents. A person may serve on more than one work group.

The State Board must hold at least three public hearings whenever it develops, evaluates, modifies, or revises either academic performance standards or learning standards, as described in the act. The State Board must also solicit feedback and comments from the Joint Committee on Education and academic researchers. All comments must be made publicly available.

Local school districts and charter schools may adopt their own education standards, in addition to those already adopted by the state, provided any additional standards are in the public domain and do not conflict with the standards adopted by the State Board of Education.

SECTION 160.516: This act prohibits the State Board of Education and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education from mandating the curriculum, textbooks, or other instructional materials used in the public schools. Each local school board is responsible for the approval and adoption of curriculum. However, this prohibition will not apply to any schools or programs administered by the State Board, the Department, or any district classified as unaccredited.

The State Board of Education and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education are prohibited from requiring local districts to use any of the appendices to the Common Core State Standards.

This section is substantially similar to a provision contained in SCS/SB 815 (2014).

SECTION 160.518: This act adds a requirement that the State Board of Education modify and revise, as necessary, the statewide assessment system based on the standards adopted by it.

After the State Board of Education adopts and implements academic performance standards, it must develop and adopt a standardized assessment instrument based on those standards.

The special education teachers serving on the advisory panel to develop developmentally appropriate alternate assessments must be residents of Missouri.

This act repeals two provisions that terminated in 2006.

SECTION 160.526: When the State Board establishes, evaluates, modifies, or revises academic performance standards, learning standards, and the statewide assessment system, it must consider the work product of the Department of Higher Education's Curriculum Alignment Initiative or any other work in the public domain. This act repeals the requirement that the State Board of Education adopt the work done by consortia of other states when establishing academic standards and the statewide assessment system.

The Commissioner of Education must notify the General Assembly within six months of modifying or revising the statewide assessment system, as described in the act. The General Assembly may veto any modification or revision by concurrent resolution, as described in the act.

By December 31, 2014, the Commissioner of Education must revise a procedure to allow the State Board to regularly receive advice and counsel from certain groups whenever it develops, evaluates, modifies or revises academic performance standards, learning standards, or the statewide assessment system.

This act repeals obsolete references to the Commission on Performance that was previously repealed.

SECTION 160.820: This act repeals authorization for the Department of Economic Development, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Department of Higher Education to directly enter into agreements with the P-20 Council. Instead, the departments will be bound by statutory requirements for state purchasing and contracting.

SECTION 161.092: The State Board of Education's rules on school accreditation must allow fully accredited districts that are not accredited with distinction to propose alternative criteria to the State Board of Education to become accredited with distinction.

SECTION 161.096: This act requires the State Board of Education to adopt a rule relating to student data accessibility, transparency, and accountability. The rule must include several requirements for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Department must create and make publicly available a data inventory and index of data elements with definitions of individual student data fields in the student data system, as described in the act. The Department must develop policies to comply with all relevant state and federal laws, including the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The policies must address access to personally identifiable student data in the statewide longitudinal data system. The Department must develop criteria for the approval of research and data requests from state and local agencies, researchers working on behalf of the Department, and the public.

The Department must not, unless otherwise authorized, transfer personally identifiable student data. The Department must develop a detailed data security plan, as described in the act, and ensure compliance with FERPA. The Department must ensure that any contracts that govern databases, assessments, or instructional supports that include student or redacted data and are outsourced to private vendors include provisions that safeguard privacy and security and include penalties for non-compliance, except to local service providers, as defined and described in the act.

The Department must report to the Governor, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Joint Committee on Education of any new student data proposed for inclusion in the state student data system and any changes to existing data collections required for any reason.

The Department is prohibited from collecting, and school districts are prohibited from reporting the following individual student data: juvenile court delinquency records, criminal records, student biometric information, student political affiliation, and student religion.

Quantifiable student performance data must only include performance on locally developed or locally approved assessments, including but not limited to formative assessments developed by classroom teachers.

This act creates penalties for any violation promulgated by the State Board of Education regarding the use of education data. The Attorney General has authority to enforce compliance.

This section is similar to a provision contained in SCS/SB 815 (2014).

SECTION 161.855: By October 1, 2014, the State Board of Education must convene work groups of education professionals to develop and recommend academic performance standards. The State Board of Education must convene separate work groups for the following subject areas: English language arts; mathematics; science; and history and governments. For each subject area, the State Board must convene two work groups, one for grades kindergarten through five and one for grades six through twelve.

The work groups must develop and recommend academic performance standards by October 1, 2015. The work groups must report on their progress to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives on a monthly basis.

The State Board of Education must adopt and implement academic performance standards beginning in the 2016-2017 school year. The State Board must align the statewide assessment system to the new standards as needed.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education must pilot assessments from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium during the 2014-2015 school year. For the 2014-2015 school year, and any time when there is a new statewide assessment system, or any time when the State Board develops new academic performance standards or makes changes to the Missouri School Improvement Program, the first year of such statewide assessment system and performance indicators will be used as a pilot year for calculating school districts' annual performance report. The results of the statewide pilot must not be used to lower a school district's accreditation or for a teacher's evaluation.

Any person performing work for a district or charter school who is required to be certified under the teacher or administrator certification laws must be an employee of the district or charter school. Evaluations of certified teachers must be maintained in the teacher's personnel file and must not be shared with any state or federal agency.

This section is substantially similar to provisions contained in HB 1490 (2014) and SCS/SB 815 (2014).

This act contains an emergency clause.

MICHAEL RUFF


Go to Main Bill Page  |  Return to Summary List  |  Return to Senate Home Page