Florida Senate - 2015 SENATOR AMENDMENT Bill No. CS/CS/CS/HB 1145, 1st Eng. Ì514476?Î514476 LEGISLATIVE ACTION Senate . House . . . . . ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Senator Bullard moved the following: 1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment) 2 3 Between lines 1444 and 1445 4 insert: 5 Section 20. Subsection (7) of section 1008.34, Florida 6 Statutes, as amended by chapter 2015-6, Laws of Florida, is 7 amended to read: 8 1008.34 School grading system; school report cards; 9 district grade.— 10 (7) TRANSITION.—School grades pursuant to this section and 11 school improvement ratings pursuant to s. 1008.341 for the 2013 12 2014 school year shall be calculated based on statutes and rules 13 in effect on June 30, 2014. To assist in the transition to 2014 14 2015 school grades and school improvement ratings, calculated 15 based on new statewide, standardized assessments administered 16 pursuant to s. 1008.22, the 2014-2015 school grades and school 17 improvement ratings shall serve as an informational baseline for 18 schools to work toward improved performance in future years. 19 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 2014-2015 school 20 year shall be considered an implementation year for the new 21 statewide, standardized assessments. Learning gains data from 22 2014-2015 test scores may not be used in the calculation of 23 school grades, school improvement grades, district grades, or 24 personnel performance evaluations pursuant to s. 1012.34 if such 25 use would result in a lower grade or level of performance than 26 the grade or level of performance which would result without the 27 use of learning gains data. Accordingly, notwithstanding any 28 other provision of law: 29 (a) A school may not be required to select and implement a 30 turnaround option pursuant to s. 1008.33 in the 2015-2016 school 31 year based on the school’s 2014-2015 grade or school improvement 32 rating under s. 1008.341, as applicable. The benefits of s. 33 1008.33(4)(c), relating to a school being released from 34 implementation of the turnaround option, and s. 1008.33(4)(d), 35 relating to a school implementing strategies identified in its 36 school improvement plan, apply to a school using turnaround 37 options pursuant to s. 1008.33 which improves at least one 38 letter grade during the 2014-2015 school year. 39 (b)1. A school or approved provider under s. 1002.45 which 40 receives the same or a lower school grade or school improvement 41 rating for the 2014-2015 school year compared to the 2013-2014 42 school year is not subject to sanctions or penalties that would 43 otherwise occur as a result of the 2014-2015 school grade or 44 rating. A charter school system or a school district designated 45 as high performing may not lose the designation based on the 46 2014-2015 school grades of any of the schools within the charter 47 school system or school district, as applicable. 48 2. The Florida School Recognition Program established under 49 s. 1008.36 shall continue to be implemented as otherwise 50 provided in the General Appropriations Act. 51 (c) Until such time as an independent verification of the 52 psychometric validity of the statewide, standardized assessments 53 first implemented in 2014-2015 is provided, for purposes of 54 determining grade 3 English Language Arts student performance 55 retention pursuant to s. 1008.25(5) and high school graduation 56 requirements pursuant to s. 1003.4282, student performance on 57 the 2014-2015 statewide, standardized assessments shall be 58 linked to 2013-2014 student performance expectations. Students 59 who score in the bottom quintile on the 2014-2015 grade 3 60 English Language Arts assessment shall be identified as students 61 at risk of retention. School districts must notify parents of 62 such students, provide evidence as outlined in s. 1008.25(6)(b), 63 and provide the appropriate intervention and support services 64 for student success in grade 4. 65 (d)1. An independent verification of the psychometric 66 validity of the statewide, standardized assessments first 67 implemented in 2014-2015 must be completed before the 2014-2015 68 school grades results may be published and before the student 69 performance data resulting from such assessments may be used for 70 purposes of instructional personnel and school administrator 71 evaluations. 72 2. The independent entity must be selected by a panel 73 consisting of one member appointed by the Governor, one member 74 appointed by the President of the Senate, and one member 75 appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. In 76 selecting the independent entity, the panel must consider, at a 77 minimum: 78 a. The national reputation and length of establishment of 79 the entity; 80 b. The experience and expertise of the independent entity 81 in validating such data; and 82 c. The use of professional standards, codes, and guidelines 83 that address applicable practices in the profession, such as the 84 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. 85 3. The panel must select the independent entity no later 86 than June 1, 2015. Upon selection of the independent entity, the 87 Department of Education shall immediately contract with the 88 independent entity to perform the independent verification, 89 which must be completed by September 1, 2015. This paragraph is 90 repealed December 31, 2015. 91 92 This subsection is repealed July 1, 2017. 93 94 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================ 95 And the title is amended as follows: 96 Delete line 140 97 and insert: 98 program for certain school principals; amending s. 99 1008.34, F.S.; designating the 2014-2015 school year 100 as an implementation year for the new statewide, 101 standardized assessments; prohibiting the use of 102 learning gains data from 2014-2015 test scores under 103 specified circumstances; providing