TITLE XII. EDUCATION.
CHAPTER 69. POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.
Chapter 69: Section 1I. Performances of public school districts and individual public schools; evaluation system; assessment instruments; reports.
Section 1I. The board shall adopt a system for evaluating on an annual basis the performance of both public school districts and individual public schools. With respect to individual schools, the system shall include instruments designed to assess the extent to which schools and districts succeed in improving or fail to improve student performance, as defined by student acquisition of the skills, competencies and knowledge called for by the academic standards and embodied in the curriculum frameworks established by the board pursuant to sections one D and one E in the areas of mathematics, science and technology, history and social science, English, foreign languages and the arts, as well as by other gauges of student learning judged by the board to be relevant and meaningful to students, parents, teachers, administrators, and taxpayers.
The system shall be designed both to measure outcomes and results regarding student performance, and to improve the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction. In its design and application, the system shall strike a balance among considerations of accuracy, fairness, expense and administration. The system shall employ a variety of assessment instruments on either a comprehensive or statistically valid sampling basis. Such instruments shall be criterion referenced, assessing whether students are meeting the academic standards described in this chapter. As much as is practicable, especially in the case of students whose performance is difficult to assess using conventional methods, such instruments shall include consideration of work samples, projects and portfolios, and shall facilitate authentic and direct gauges of student performance. Such instruments shall provide the means to compare student performance among the various school systems and communities in the commonwealth, and between students in other states and in other nations, especially those nations which compete with the commonwealth for employment and economic opportunities. The board shall take all appropriate action to bring about and continue the commonwealth's participation in the assessment activities of the National Assessment of Educational Progress and in the development of standards and assessments by the New Standards Program.
In addition, comprehensive diagnostic assessment of individual students shall be conducted at least in the fourth, eighth and tenth grades. Said diagnostic assessments shall identify academic achievement levels of all students in order to inform teachers, parents, administrators and the students themselves, as to individual academic performance. The board shall develop procedures for updating, improving or refining the assessment system.
The assessment instruments shall be designed to avoid gender, cultural, ethnic or racial stereotypes and shall recognize sensitivity to different learning styles and impediments to learning. The system shall take into account on a nondiscriminatory basis the cultural and language diversity of students in the commonwealth and the particular circumstances of students with special needs. Said system shall comply with federal requirements for accommodating children with special needs. All potential English proficient students from language groups in which programs of transitional bilingual education are offered under chapter seventy-one A shall also be allowed opportunities for assessment of their performance in the language which best allows them to demonstrate educational achievement and mastery. For the purposes of this section, a "potential English proficient student" shall be defined as a student who is not able to perform ordinary class work in English; provided, however, that no student shall be allowed to be tested in a language other than English for longer than three consecutive years.
The commissioner is authorized and directed to gather information, including the information specified herein and such other information as the board shall require, for the purposes of evaluating individual public schools, school districts, and the efficacy and equity of state and federal mandated programs. All information filed pursuant to this section shall be filed in the manner and form prescribed by the department.
Each school district shall maintain individual records on every student and employee. Each student record shall contain a unique and confidential identification number, basic demographic information, program and course information, and such other information as the department shall determine necessary. Said records shall conform to parameters established by the department.
Each school district shall file a report with the department every year by a date and in a format determined by the board. Said report shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(a) an outline of the curriculum and graduation requirements of the district;
(b) pupil/teacher ratios and class size policy and practice;
(c) teacher and administrator evaluation procedures;
(d) statistics, policies, and procedures relative to truancy and dropouts;
(e) statistics, policies, and procedures relative to expulsions and in-school and out-of-school suspensions;
(f) percent of school-age children attending public schools;
(g) racial composition of teaching and administrative staff;
(h) enrollment and average daily attendance;
(i) the annual budgets and expenditures for both the district and the individual schools in the district.
Each school district shall file a description of the following instructional procedures and programs with the department every year:
(a) art and music programs;
(b) technology education;
(c) programs for gifted and talented students;
(d) adult education programs;
(e) library and media facilities;
(f) condition of instructional materials including textbooks, workbooks, audio-visual materials, and laboratory materials;
(g) types and condition of computers and computer software;
(h) basic skills remediation programs;
(i) drug, tobacco and alcohol abuse programs;
(j) multi-cultural education training for students and teachers; and
(k) global education.
Each school district shall furnish to the department in a timely manner such additional information as the department shall request.
Each school district required to provide a program in transitional bilingual education pursuant to chapter seventy-one A shall file the following information with the department every year:
(a) the type or types of transitional bilingual education programs provided;
(b) with regard to children of limited English speaking ability (i) the number enrolled in each type of transitional bilingual education program; (ii) the number enrolled in English as a second language courses who are not enrolled in a program in transitional bilingual education; (iii) the results of basic skills, curriculum assessment, achievement and language proficiency testing, whether administered in English or in the native language; (iv) the absentee, suspension, expulsion, dropout and promotion rates;
(c) the number of students each year who have enrolled in institutions of higher education and were formerly enrolled in a program in transitional bilingual education;
(d) the academic progress in regular education of students who have completed a program in transitional bilingual education;
(e) for each child of limited English speaking ability receiving special education, the number of years in the school district prior to special education evaluation and the movement in special education programs by program prototype;
(f) the number of limited English proficient students enrolled in programs of occupational/vocational education;
(g) the name, national origin, native language, certificates held, language proficiency, grade levels and subjects taught by each bilingual or English as a second language (ESL) teacher, bilingual aides or paraprofessionals, bilingual guidance or adjustment counselors, and bilingual school psychologists;
(h) the per pupil expenditures for each full time equivalent (FTE) bilingual program student;
(i) the sources and amounts of all funds expended on bilingual program students, broken down by local, state and federal sources and whether any such funds expended supplanted, rather than supplemented, the local school district obligation; the participation of parents through parent advisory councils; and
(j) whether there were any complaints filed with any federal or state court or administrative agency, since the program's inception, concerning the compliance with federal or state minimum legal requirements, the disposition of each such complaint, and the monitoring and evaluation of any such agreement or court order relative to such complaint.
Said information shall be filed in the form of the total for the school district as well as categorized by school, grade and language.