Sec. 1012. Academic assessments
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Part B of title I ( 20 U.S.C. 6361 et seq. ) is amended to read as follows: From amounts made available in accordance with section 1204, the Secretary shall make grants to States to enable the States to carry out 1 or more of the following: To pay the costs of the development of the State assessments and standards adopted under section 1111(b), which may include the costs of working in voluntary partnerships with other States, at the sole discretion of each such State. If a State has developed the assessments adopted under section 1111(b), to administer those assessments or to carry out other assessment activities described in this part, such as the following:
Expanding the range of appropriate accommodations available to children who are English learners and children with disabilities to improve the rates of inclusion in regular assessments of such children, including professional development activities to improve the implementation of such accommodations in instructional practice. Developing challenging State academic standards and aligned assessments in academic subjects for which standards and assessments are not required under section 1111(b).
Developing or improving assessments of English language proficiency necessary to comply with section 1111(b)(2)(G). Ensuring the continued validity and reliability of State assessments. Refining State assessments to ensure their continued alignment with the challenging State academic standards and to improve the alignment of curricula and instructional materials. Developing or improving the quality, validity, and reliability of assessments for children who are English learners, including alternative assessments aligned with the challenging State academic standards, testing accommodations for children who are English learners, and assessments of English language proficiency.
Developing or improving balanced assessment systems that include summative, interim, and formative assessments, including supporting local educational agencies in developing or improving such assessments. From amounts made available in accordance with section 1204, the Secretary shall award, on a competitive basis, grants to State educational agencies that have submitted applications at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may reasonably require, which demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the Secretary, that the requirements of this section will be met, for one of more of the following:
Allowing for collaboration with institutions of higher education, other research institutions, or other organizations to improve the quality, validity, and reliability of State academic assessments beyond the requirements for such assessments described in section 1111(b)(2). Developing or improving assessments for students who are children with disabilities, including using the principles of universal design for learning, which may include developing assessments aligned to alternate academic achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities described in section 1111(b)(2)(D).
Measuring student progress or academic growth over time, including by using multiple measures. Evaluating student academic achievement through the development of comprehensive academic assessment instruments, such as performance and technology-based academic assessments that emphasize the mastery of standards and aligned competencies in a competency-based education model, technology-based academic assessments, computer adaptive assessments, and portfolios, projects, or extended performance task assessments.
Each State educational agency receiving a grant under this section shall submit an annual report to the Secretary describing its activities under the grant and the result of such activities. No funds provided under this section to the Secretary shall be used to mandate, direct, control, incentivize, or make financial awards conditioned upon States (or a consortia of States) developing any assessment common to a number of States, including testing activities prohibited under section 9529.
From the amount reserved under section 1204(b)(1)(C) for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall make grants, from allotments in accordance with subsection (b), to States to enable the States to— in the case of a grant awarded under this section to a State for the first time— carry out audits of State assessment systems and ensure that local educational agencies carry out audits of local assessments under subsection (e)(1); prepare and carry out the State plan under subsection (e)(6); and award subgrants under subsection (f); and in the case of a grant awarded under this section to a State that has previously received a grant under this section— carry out the State plan under subsection (e)(6); and award subgrants under subsection (f).
Each State with an approved application shall receive a grant amount of not less than $1,500,000 per fiscal year. If a State chooses not to apply to receive a grant under this subsection, or if such State’s application under subsection
(d)is disapproved by the Secretary, the Secretary shall reallocate such grant amount to other States with approved applications. A State desiring to receive a grant under this section shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require. Not later than 1 year after a State receives a grant under this section for the first time, the State shall— conduct an audit of the State assessment system; ensure that each local educational agency under the State’s jurisdiction and receiving funds under this Act— conducts an audit of each local assessment administered by the local educational agency; and submits the results of such audit to the State; and report the results of each State and local educational agency audit conducted under subparagraphs
(A)and (B), in a format that is— publicly available, such as a widely accessible online platform; and with appropriate accessibility provisions for children with disabilities and English learners. In carrying out paragraph (1)(B), each State shall develop and provide local educational agencies with resources, such as guidelines and protocols, to assist the agencies in conducting and reporting the results of the audit required under such paragraph. An audit of a State assessment system conducted under paragraph
(1)shall include a description of each State assessment carried out in the State, including— the grade and subject matter assessed; whether the assessment is required under section 1111(b)(2) or allowed under section 1111(b)(2)(D); the annual cost to the State educational agency involved in developing, purchasing, administering, and scoring the assessment; the purpose for which the assessment was designed and the purpose for which the assessment is used, including assessments designed to contribute to systems of improvement of teaching and learning; the time for disseminating assessment results; a description of how the assessment is aligned with the challenging State academic standards under section 1111(b)(1); a description of any State law or regulation that established the requirement for the assessment; the schedule and calendar for all State assessments given; and a description of the State’s policies for inclusion of English learners and children with disabilities participating in assessments, including developing and promoting the use of appropriate accommodations. An audit of a local assessment conducted under paragraph
(1)shall include a description of the local assessment carried out by the local educational agency, including— the descriptions listed in subparagraphs (A), (D), and
(E)of paragraph (3); the annual cost to the local educational agency of developing, purchasing, administering, and scoring the assessment; the extent to which the assessment is aligned to the challenging State academic standards under section 1111(b)(1); a description of any State or local law or regulation that establishes the requirement for the assessment; and in the case of a summative assessment that is used for accountability purposes, whether the assessment is valid and reliable and consistent with nationally recognized professional and technical standards. Each audit of a State assessment system or local assessment system conducted under subparagraph
(A)or
(B)of paragraph
(1)shall include feedback on such system from education stakeholders, which shall cover information such as— how educators, school leaders, and administrators use assessment data to improve and differentiate instruction; the timing of release of assessment data; the extent to which assessment data is presented in an accessible and understandable format for educators, school leaders, parents, students (if appropriate), and the community; the opportunities, resources, and training educators and administrators are given to review assessment results and make effective use of assessment data; the distribution of technological resources and personnel necessary to administer assessments; the amount of time educators spend on assessment preparation; the assessments that administrators, educators, parents, and students, if appropriate, do and do not find useful; the amount of time students spend taking the assessments; and other information as appropriate. Not later than 6 months after a State conducts an audit under paragraph
(1)and based on the results of such audit, the State shall, in coordination with the local educational agencies under the jurisdiction of the State, prepare and submit to the Secretary, a plan to improve and streamline State assessment systems and local assessment systems, including through activities such as— eliminating any assessments that are not required by section 1111(b)(2) (such as by buying out the remainder of procurement contracts with assessment developers) and that— are low-quality; are not aligned to the challenging State academic standards under section 1111(b)(1)); in the case of summative assessments used for accountability purposes, are not valid or reliable and are inconsistent with nationally recognized professional and technical standards; do not contribute to systems of improvement for teaching and learning; or are redundant; supporting the dissemination of best practices from local educational agencies or other States that have successfully improved assessment quality and efficiency to improve teaching and learning; supporting local educational agencies or consortia of local educational agencies to carry out efforts to streamline local assessment systems and implementing a regular process of review and evaluation of assessment use in local educational agencies; disseminating the assessment data in an accessible and understandable format for educators, parents, and families; and decreasing time between administering such State assessments and releasing assessment data. A State shall carry out a State plan as soon as practicable after the State prepares such State plan under subparagraph
(A)and during each grant period of a grant described in subsection (a)(2) that is awarded to the State. From the amount awarded to a State under this section, the State shall reserve not less than 20 percent of funds to make subgrants to local educational agencies in the State, or consortia of such local educational agencies, based on demonstrated need in the agency’s or consortium’s application to improve assessment quality, use, and alignment with the challenging State academic standards under section 1111(b)(1). Each local educational agency, or consortium of local educational agencies, seeking a subgrant under this subsection shall submit an application to the State at such time, in such manner, and containing such other information as determined by the State. The application shall include a description of the agency’s or consortium’s needs to improve assessment quality, use, and alignment (as described in paragraph (1)). A subgrant awarded under this subsection to a local educational agency or consortium of such agencies may be used to— conduct an audit of local assessments under subsection (e)(1)(B); eliminate any assessments identified for elimination by such audit, such as by buying out the remainder of procurement contracts with assessment developers; disseminate the best practices described in subsection (e)(6)(A)(ii); improve the capacity of school leaders and educators to disseminate assessment data in an accessible and understandable format for parents and families, including for children with disabilities or English learners; improve assessment delivery systems and schedules, including by increasing access to technology and exam proctors, where appropriate; hire instructional coaches, or promote educators who may receive increased compensation to serve as instructional coaches, to support educators to develop classroom-based assessments, interpret assessment data, and design instruction; and provide for appropriate accommodations to maximize inclusion of children with disabilities and English learners participating in assessments. In this section: The term local assessment means an academic assessment selected and carried out by a local educational agency that is separate from an assessment required by section 1111(b)(2). The term State means each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. For the purpose of administering the State assessments under the National Assessment of Educational Progress, there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 2016 through 2021. From amounts made available for each fiscal year under subsection 1002(b) that are equal to or less than the amount described in section 1111(b)(2)(H), the Secretary shall— reserve ½ of 1 percent for the Bureau of Indian Education; reserve ½ of 1 percent for the outlying areas; reserve not more than 20 percent to carry out section 1203; and from the remainder, allocate to each State for section 1201 an amount equal to— $3,000,000; and with respect to any amounts remaining after the allocation is made under clause (i), an amount that bears the same relationship to such total remaining amounts as the number of students aged 5 through 17 in the State (as determined by the Secretary on the basis of the most recent satisfactory data) bears to the total number of such students in all States. Any amounts made available for a fiscal year under subsection 1002(b) that are remaining after the Secretary carries out paragraph
(1)shall be made available as follows: To award funds under section 1202 to States selected for such grants, according to the quality, needs, and scope of the State application under that section. In determining the grant amount under clause (i), the Secretary shall ensure that a State’s grant shall include an amount that bears the same relationship to the total funds available under this paragraph for the fiscal year as the number of students ages 5 through 17 in the State (as determined by the Secretary on the basis of the most recent satisfactory data) bears to the total number of such students in all States. Any amounts remaining after the Secretary awards funds under subparagraph
(A)shall be allocated to each State that did not receive a grant under such subparagraph, in an amount that bears the same relationship to the total funds available under this subparagraph as the number of students ages 5 through 17 in the State (as determined by the Secretary on the basis of the most recent satisfactory data) bears to the total number of such students in all States. In this section, the term State means each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The term innovative assessment system means a system of assessments that may include— competency-based assessments, instructionally embedded assessments, interim assessments, cumulative year-end assessments, or performance-based assessments that combine into an annual summative determination for a student, which may be administered through computer adaptive assessments; and assessments that validate when students are ready to demonstrate mastery or proficiency and allow for differentiated student support based on individual learning needs. The Secretary may provide a State educational agency, in accordance with paragraph (3), with the authority to establish an innovative assessment system. Each authorization of demonstration authority under this section shall be for a period of 3 years. During the initial 3-year period of demonstration authority under this section, the Secretary shall provide 5 State educational agencies, subject to meeting the application requirements in subsection (c), with the authority described in paragraph (1). After the end of the initial demonstration period described in subparagraph (A), the Secretary may provide additional State educational agencies with demonstration authority described in paragraph (1), if the Secretary determines that overall the innovative assessment systems have— demonstrated progress for all students, including at-risk students, through such measures as— increasing student achievement and improving academic outcomes; increasing graduation rates for high schools; increasing retention rates of students in school; or decreasing rates of remediation for students; been developed in accordance with the requirements of subsection (c), including substantial evidence that such system meets such requirements; and demonstrated that the same system of assessments was used to measure the achievement of all students that participated in the demonstration authority, and at least 95 percent of such students overall and in each of the categories of students, as defined in section 1111(b)(3)(A), were assessed under the innovative assessment system. A State educational agency that desires to participate in the program of demonstration authority under this section shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may reasonably require. Such application shall include a description of the innovative assessment system. In addition, the application shall include the following: A demonstration that the innovative assessment system will— meet all the requirements of section 1111(b)(2)(B), except the requirements of clauses
(i)and
(v)of such section; be aligned to the standards under section 1111(b)(1) and address the depth and breadth of the challenging State academic standards under such section; express student results or student competencies in terms consistent with the State aligned academic achievement standards; be able to generate comparable, valid, and reliable results for all students and for each category of students described in section 1111(b)(2)(B)(xi), compared to the results for such students on the State assessments under section 1111(b)(2); be developed in collaboration with stakeholders representing the interests of children with disabilities, English learners, and other vulnerable children, educators, including teachers, principals, and other school leaders, local educational agencies, and civil rights organizations in the State; be accessible to all students, such as by incorporating the principles of universal design for learning; provide educators, students, and parents with timely data, disaggregated by each category of students described in section 1111(b)(2)(B)(xi), to inform and improve instructional practice and student supports; be able to identify which students are not making progress toward the State’s academic achievement standards so that educators can provide instructional support and targeted intervention to all students to ensure every student is making progress; measure the annual progress of not less than 95 percent of all students and students in each of the categories of students, as defined in section 1111(b)(3)(A), who are enrolled in each school that is participating in the innovative assessment system and are required to take assessments; generate an annual, summative achievement determination based on annual data for each individual student based on the challenging State academic standards under section 1111(b)(1) and be able to validly and reliably aggregate data from the innovative assessment system for purposes of accountability, consistent with the requirements of section 1111(b)(3), and reporting, consistent with the requirements of section 1111(d); and continue use of the high-quality statewide academic assessments required under section 1111(b)(2) if such assessments will be used for accountability purposes for the duration of the demonstration. A description of how the State educational agency will— identify the distinct purposes for each assessment that is part of the innovative assessment system; provide support and training to local educational agency and school staff to implement the innovative assessment system described in this subsection; inform parents of students in participating local educational agencies about the innovative assessment system at the beginning of each school year during which the innovative assessment system will be implemented; engage and support teachers in developing and scoring assessments that are part of the innovative assessment system, including through the use of high-quality professional development, standardized and calibrated scoring rubrics, and other strategies, consistent with relevant nationally recognized professional and technical standards, to ensure inter-rater reliability and comparability; acclimate students to the innovative assessment system; ensure that students with the most significant cognitive disabilities may be assessed with alternate assessments consistent with section 1111(b)(2)(D); if the State is proposing to administer the innovative assessment system initially in a subset of local educational agencies, scale up the innovative assessment system to administer such system statewide or with additional local educational agencies in the initial demonstration and 2-year renewal period, if applicable, including the timeline that explains the process for scaling to statewide implementation by either the end of the initial demonstration authority or the 2-year renewal period; gather data, solicit regular feedback from educators and parents, and assess the results of each year of the program of demonstration authority under this section, and respond by making needed changes to the innovative assessment system; and report data from the innovative assessment system annually to the Secretary, including— demographics of participating local educational agencies, if such system is not statewide, and additional local educational agencies if added to the system during the course of the initial demonstration or 2-year renewal period; performance of all participating students and for each category of students, as defined in section 1111(b)(3)(A), on the innovative assessment, consistent with the requirements in section 1111(d); and feedback from teachers, principals, other school leaders, and parents about their satisfaction with the innovative assessment system. A description of the State educational agency’s plan to— ensure that all students and each of the categories of students, as defined in section 1111(b)(3)(A)— are held to the same high standard as other students in the State; and receive the instructional support needed to meet challenging State academic standards; ensure that each local educational agency has the technological infrastructure to implement the innovative assessment system; and hold all participating schools in the local educational agencies participating in the program of demonstration authority accountable for meeting the State’s expectations for student achievement. If the innovative assessment system will initially be administered in a subset of local educational agencies— a description of the local educational agencies within the State educational agency that will participate, including what criteria the State has for approving any additional local educational agencies to participate during the demonstration period; assurances from such local educational agencies that such agencies will comply with the requirements of this subsection; and a demonstration that the participating local educational agencies, as a group, will be demographically similar to the State as a whole. The Secretary shall— implement a peer review process, which shall include a review team comprised of practitioners and experts who are knowledgeable about the assessment innovation being proposed for all students, including English learners and children with disabilities, to inform— the awarding, renewal, and expansion of the demonstration authority under this section; and determinations about whether the innovative assessment system— is comparable, valid, reliable, of high technical quality, and consistent with relevant, nationally recognized professional and technical standards; and provides an unbiased, rational, and consistent determination of progress toward annual goals for all students and schools; and make publicly available the applications submitted under subsection
(c)and the peer review comments and recommendations regarding such applications. The Secretary may renew an authorization of demonstration authority under this subsection for an additional 2 years if the State educational agency demonstrates with evidence that the State educational agency’s innovative assessment system is continuing to meet the requirements of subsection (c). A State may, during the initial 3-year demonstration period or 2-year renewal period, include results from the innovative assessment systems developed under this authority in accountability determinations for each student in the participating local educational agencies instead of, or in addition to, those from the assessment system under section 1111(b)(2), provided the State demonstrates that the State has met the requirements in subsection (c). The State shall continue to meet all other requirements of section 1111(b)(3). The Secretary shall withdraw the authorization for demonstration authority provided to a State educational agency under this section and any participating local educational agency or the State as a whole shall return to the statewide assessment system under section 1111(b)(2) if, at any point after the 3-year demonstration period described in subsection (b)(2) or 2-year renewal period described in subsection (e), the State educational agency cannot present to the Secretary a body of substantial evidence that the innovative assessment system developed under this section— meets requirements of subsection (c); includes all students attending schools participating in the demonstration authority, including each of the categories of students, as defined in section 1111(b)(3)(A), in the innovative assessment system demonstration; provides an unbiased, rational, and consistent determination of progress toward annual goals for schools, which are comparable to determinations under section 1111(b)(3)(B)(iii) across the State in which the local educational agencies are located; presents a high-quality plan to transition to full statewide use of the innovative assessment system by the end of the initial demonstration period and 2-year renewal, if the innovative assessment system will initially be administered in a subset of local educational agencies; and is equivalent to the statewide assessments under section 1111(b)(2) in content coverage, difficulty, and quality. If, after the initial demonstration and renewal period, the State educational agency has met all the requirements of this section, such entity shall be permitted to operate the innovative assessment system approved under the program of demonstration authority under this section for the purposes of paragraphs
(2)and
(3)of section 1111(b). If, after the initial demonstration and renewal period, the State has met all of the requirements of this section, except transition to full statewide use for States that will initially administer an innovative assessment system in a subset of local educational agencies, and continues to comply with the other requirements of this section, and demonstrates a high-quality plan for transition to statewide use in a reasonable period of time, the State may request, and the Secretary shall review such request, a delay of the withdrawal of authority under subsection
(g)for the purpose of providing the State time necessary to implement the innovative assessment system statewide. A State may use funds available under section 1201 to carry out this section. A consortium of States may apply to participate in the program of demonstration authority under this section and the Secretary may provide each State member of such consortium with such authority if each such State member meets all of the requirements of this section. .
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Sec. 1012
Academic assessments
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