A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to make changes to the educator preparation program Performance standards and data reporting system.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑269.35 reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑269.35.  Accountability for educator preparation programs.
(a)	Performance Measures. – The State Board shall adopt rules necessary to establish standards of performance to govern the continuing accountability of all EPPs. At a minimum, the performance standards shall be based on the following information that is disaggregated with respect to race, sex, and ethnicity:
(1)	Performance based on the standards and criteria for annual evaluations of licensed employees.
(2)	Proficiency and growth of students taught by educators holding an initial professional license, to the extent practicable. When available, EVAAS data shall be used to measure student proficiency and growth.
(3)	Results from an educator satisfaction survey, developed by the State Board with stakeholder input, performed at the end of the educator's first year of teaching after receiving an initial professional license.
(4)	Quality of students entering the EPP, including the average grade point average and average score on preprofessional skills tests or college entrance exams that assess reading, writing, mathematics, and other competencies.
(5)	Employment of EPP completers, including the number of students employed as beginning teachers under initial professional licenses within the first year of completing the program, the number of students retained in the profession, and the perseverance of beginning educators in the profession, as determined on the basis of the number of beginning educators who maintain status as active members in the North Carolina Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System at least three years after licensure.
(b)	Annual Performance Reports. – The State Board shall require all recognized EPPs to submit annual performance reports. The performance reports shall provide the State Board with a focused review of the EPPs and the current authorization process in order to ensure that the programs produce graduates that are well prepared to teach. At a minimum, the annual report shall contain the following indicators:
(1)	Performance data from subsection (a) of this section.
(2)	Data related to the EPP's compliance with requirements for field supervision of students during their internship and residency experiences.
(3)	The following information, disaggregated by race, sex, and ethnicity:
a.	The number of students who apply.
b.	The number of students admitted.
c.	The number of students retained.
d.	The number of students completing the program.
	
f.	The amount of time required by students employed as beginning teachers under residency licenses to be issued initial professional licenses.
	
h.	Any other information required by federal law.
(4)	The ratio of field supervisors to students completing an internship or residency.
(5)	Graduation rates.
(6)	Time‑to‑graduation rates.
(7)	Average scores of graduates on professional, pedagogy, and content area examinations for the purpose of licensure.
(8)	Percentage of graduates receiving initial professional licenses.
(9)	The extent to which the program prepares educators, including general education teachers and special education teachers, to effectively teach the following:
a.	Students with disabilities.
b.	Students of limited English proficiency.
(10)	The activities offered by the program that are designed to prepare educators to do the following:
a.	Integrate technology effectively into curricula and instruction, including activities consistent with the principles of universal design for learning.
b.	Use technology effectively to collect, manage, and analyze data to improve teaching and learning for the purpose of increasing student academic achievement.
	
(12)	The results of surveys given to school principals that involve evaluation of the program's effectiveness in preparing participants to succeed in the classroom, based on experience with employed program participants.
(13)	Any other information necessary to enable the State Board to assess the effectiveness of the program on the basis of educator retention and success criteria adopted by the State Board.
(c)	Submission of Annual Performance Reports. – Performance reports shall be provided annually to the following:
(1)	The State Board.
(2)	The board of trustees or board of directors of the entity submitting the report.
(d)	Information Requests by EPPs. – The State Board of Education shall annually provide, upon request, the data required to be included in an EPP's annual performance report related to subdivisions (1), (2), and (5) of subsection (a) of this section. The State Board of Education shall provide this information to an EPP as aggregate data and disaggregated by race, sex, and ethnicity. Notwithstanding Article 21A of this Chapter, local school administrative units shall provide to the State Board of Education for the purposes of these information requests any North Carolina Educator Evaluation System effectiveness status assigned to teachers based on queries from the State Board. The State Board of Education shall not report aggregated or disaggregated data to the EPP that reveals confidential information in a teacher's personnel file, as defined by Article 21A of this Chapter, such as making the effectiveness status personally identifiable to an individual teacher."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C‑269.45 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"(c1)	Small Group Exception. – Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, the State Board of Education shall adopt a rule to establish a small group exception for circumstances in which disaggregation of performance data with respect to race, sex, or ethnicity is not possible due to the small number of program participants in a demographic group. The rule shall include the number of students necessary to qualify for the exception and the alternative method of performance assessment and assignment of sanctions. The rule may provide for measuring performance of small student groups cumulatively over multiple years for EPP accountability purposes."
SECTION 3.(a)  The State Board of Education, in consultation with the Department of Public Instruction and the Professional Educator Preparation and Standards Commission (PEPSC), shall develop a formulaic, performance‑based weighted model for the purposes of comparing the annual report card information between each educator preparation program (EPP) pursuant to G.S. 115C‑269.50. The State Board, in consultation with the Department and PEPSC, shall do at least the following in designing the weighted model:
(1)	Identify and select measures from the annual performance reports required by G.S. 115C‑269.35(b), as amended by this act, to be used in the weighted model.
(2)	Assign weight to each measure, including making rounding decisions for awarding points.
(3)	Determine the number of years of data that will be used to calculate measures, such as three or five years.
(4)	Examine potential reasons for excluding EPPs from the reporting, including if there are missing or too few data points for certain measures.
(5)	Establish targets and minimum standards. To the extent practicable, EPPs shall be measured against objective criteria rather than norm‑referenced criteria.
(6)	Consider whether the weighted model should be used solely for public accountability and to inform policymakers or if the weighted model may also be used as a corrective or compliance tool.
(7)	Examine how an information dashboard system could be used as part of the reporting system, including any challenges related to integrating data from both public and private EPPs in one information dashboard system.
(8)	Examine whether additional information should be included in the weighted model to most effectively achieve the following:
a.	Meet federal and State law requirements.
b.	Hold EPPs accountable for established standards.
c.	Assist EPPs in improving performance.
d.	Communicate EPP performance to policymakers and the public.
(9)	Identify any necessary changes to State law that would enable a transition to the new weighted model.
SECTION 3.(b)  By February 15, 2020, the State Board, in consultation with the Department and PEPSC, shall report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on (i) the development of the formulaic, performance‑based weighted model for EPPs as required by subsection (a) of this section; (ii) recommendations on the purposes and uses of the weighted model; (iii) recommendations on the time line for possible implementation of the weighted model; and (iv) any legislative changes needed for implementation of the model.
SECTION 4.  By October 1, 2019, the State Board of Education shall adopt the rule required by G.S. 115C‑269.45(c1), as enacted by this act. The State Board shall apply the rule beginning with data collected from the 2018‑2019 academic year for the purposes of the annual report made available to the public by December 15, 2020, and annually thereafter, pursuant to G.S. 115C‑269.50.
SECTION 5.  This act is effective when it becomes law. Section 1 of this act applies to (i) educator preparation programs (EPPs) authorized by the State Board of Education on or after the date this act becomes law and (ii) reports submitted to the State Board and reviews by the State Board of an EPP beginning with the 2019‑2020 academic year.