Sec. 104c.
(1) In order to receive state aid under this article, a district shall administer the state assessments described in this section.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the department shall develop for use in the spring of 2015-2016 the Michigan student test of educational progress (M-STEP) assessments in English language arts and mathematics. These assessments shall be aligned to state standards.
(3) For the purposes of this section, the department shall implement a summative assessment system that is proven to be valid and reliable for administration to pupils as provided under this subsection. The summative assessment system shall meet all of the following requirements:
(a) The summative assessment system shall measure student proficiency on the current state standards, shall measure student growth for consecutive grade levels in which students are assessed in the same subject area in both grade levels, and shall be capable of measuring individual student performance.
(b) The summative assessments for English language arts and mathematics shall be administered to all public school pupils in grades 3 to 11, including those pupils as required by the federal individuals with disabilities education act, Public Law 108-446, and by title I of the federal elementary and secondary education act.
(c) The summative assessments for science shall be administered to all public school pupils in at least grades 4 and 7, including those pupils as required by the federal individuals with disabilities education act, Public Law 108-446, and by title I of the federal elementary and secondary education act.
(d) The summative assessments for social studies shall be administered to all public school pupils in at least grades 5 and 8, including those pupils as required by the federal individuals with disabilities education act, Public Law 108-446, and by title I of the federal elementary and secondary education act.
(e) The content of the summative assessments shall be aligned to state standards.
(f) The pool of questions for the summative assessments shall be subject to a transparent review process for quality, bias, and sensitive issues involving educator review and comment. The department shall post samples from tests or retired tests featuring questions from this pool for review by the public.
(g) The summative assessment system shall ensure that students, parents, and teachers are provided with reports that convey individual student proficiency and growth on the assessment and that convey individual student domain-level performance in each subject area, including representative questions, and individual student performance in meeting state standards.
(h) The summative assessment system shall be capable of providing, and the department shall ensure that students, parents, teachers, administrators, and community members are provided with, reports that convey aggregate student proficiency and growth data by teacher, grade, school, and district.
(i) The summative assessment system shall ensure the capability of reporting the available data to support educator evaluations.
(j) The summative assessment system shall ensure that the reports provided to districts containing individual student data are available within 60 days after completion of the assessments.
(k) The summative assessment system shall ensure that access to individually identifiable student data meets all of the following:
(i) Is in compliance with 20 USC 1232g, commonly referred to as the family educational rights and privacy act of 1974.
(ii) Except as may be provided for in an agreement with a vendor to provide assessment services, as necessary to support educator evaluations pursuant to subdivision (i), or for research or program evaluation purposes, is available only to the student; to the student's parent or legal guardian; and to a school administrator or teacher, to the extent that he or she has a legitimate educational interest.
(l) The summative assessment system shall ensure that the assessments are pilot tested before statewide implementation.
(m) The summative assessment system shall ensure that assessments are designed so that the maximum total combined length of time that schools are required to set aside for a pupil to answer all test questions on all assessments that are part of the system for the pupil's grade level does not exceed that maximum total combined length of time for the previous statewide assessment system or 9 hours, whichever is less. This subdivision does not limit the amount of time a district may allow a pupil to complete a test.
(n) The total cost of executing the summative assessment system statewide each year, including, but not limited to, the cost of contracts for administration, scoring, and reporting, shall not exceed an amount equal to 2 times the cost of executing the previous statewide assessment after adjustment for inflation.
(4) Beginning in the 2015-2016 school year, the department shall field test additional components in the assessment system under this subsection for full implementation in the 2016-2017 school year. The additional components are necessary to determine a pupil's proficiency level before grade 3. The additional components are as follows:
(a) Assessments administered in the fall and spring of each year to measure English language arts and mathematics in each of grades 1 and 2.
(b) The kindergarten entry assessment (KEA), to be administered in the fall of the kindergarten year. The KEA shall include the same components as under subdivision (a) and also may include observational components that measure cognitive, social-emotional, and physical skills.
(5) This section does not prohibit districts from adopting interim assessments.
(6) As used in this section, "English language arts" means that term as defined in section 104b.
History: Add. 2014, Act 196, Imd. Eff. June 24, 2014 ;-- Am. 2015, Act 85, Eff. Oct. 1, 2015
Last modified: October 10, 2016