S257 - Appropriations Act of 2017. (SL 2017-57)

Overview: Sec. 7.28A of S.L. 2017-57 directs the Superintendent of Public Instruction to study and make recommendations about the extent to which the SAT and ACT align with the English language arts and mathematics sections of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. Findings and recommendations must be made by February 1, 2018 to the Governor, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee.

The section further directs local boards of education to notify the State Board of Education (SBE) by October 1 of each year on any local standardized testing that is required by the local board of education and the following additional information must be included:

• The time allotted to administer each test.
• Whether the test is a computer-based test or a paper-based test.
• The grade level or subject area associated with the test.
• The date the test results are expected to be available to teachers and parents.
• The type of test, the purpose of the test, and the use of the test results.
• Estimates of average time for administering tests required by the local board of education by grade level.

By September 1 of each year, the Superintendent of Public Instruction must publish on the Department of Public Instruction's (DPI) Web site a uniform calendar that includes schedules for State required testing and reporting results of tests for at least the next two school years, including estimates of the average time for administering State required standardized tests. The uniform calendar shall be provided to local boards of education in an electronic format that allows each local board of education to populate the calendar with, at a minimum, the information on local testing required above. The uniform calendar maintained on DPI's Web site must be searchable by local school administrative unit (LEA) and denote whether a test on the calendar is required by the State or required by a local board of education.

Local boards of education must provide a student's results on standardized tests required by the local board to the following persons and according to the following time lines:

• To the student's teachers no later than one week after the standardized test is administered.
• To the student's parents no later than 30 days after the standardized test is administered.

If the superintendent of the LEA determines in writing that extenuating circumstances exist and reports those circumstances to the local board of education, the local board has discretion to extend the time lines.

The section directs DPI to make available to local boards of education a student's results on all statewide standardized tests in a timely manner and in an easy to read and understandable format a minimum of two weeks prior to the first day of attendance of the next school year. Local boards of education must make those results available to both the student's teacher of record and parent or guardian prior to the first day of student attendance of the school year. These reports must include all of the following information:

• A clear explanation of the student's performance on the applicable statewide standardized tests.
• Information identifying the student's areas of strength and areas in need of improvement.
• Intervention strategies and appropriate resources based on the student's areas of strength and areas in need of improvement, when available.
• Longitudinal information on the student's progress in each subject area based on previous statewide, standardized test data, when available.
• Information showing the student's score compared to other students in the LEA, in the State, or, if available, in other states.
• Predictive information showing the linkage between the scores attained by the student on the statewide standardized tests and the scores he or she may potentially attain on nationally recognized college entrance examinations, if available. This information must be provided in a timely manner as it becomes available to DPI but may be provided later than the beginning of the school year.

Finally, this section provides that the Basic Education Program must provide standards for early promotion based on the mastery of competencies that apply when early grade or course promotion based on the mastery of competencies is permitted in a school. The standards must include the requirements for early promotion for English language arts for grades three through 12 and mathematics for grades three through 12.

This section became effective July 1, 2017 and applies beginning with the 2018-2019 school year.