Senate Bill No. 104
(By Senators Miller, Wagner, Bowman, Bialey, Boley
Buckalew, Kimble, Minear, Plymale, Deem,
Schoonover, Blatnik, Love and Walker)
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[Introduced January 22, 1996;
referred to the Committee on Education;
and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to repeal section three, article two-e, chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact sections one, two and four of said article, all relating to removing the mandate that the statewide testing of educational progress program (WV-STEP) be administered statewide; and permitting individual teachers to use the program as an optional educational tool.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article two-e, chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be repealed; and that sections one, two and four of said article be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 2E. HIGH QUALITY EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS.

§18-2E-1. Legislative purpose.

The purpose of this article is to provide for the establishment of high quality educational standards and to provide for the optional evaluation of student progress in attaining the knowledge and skills essential for them to become productive members of society. and to provide assurances to the public that a thorough and efficient system of education is being provided for all public school children in West Virginia

§18-2E-2. Statewide testing of educational progress program (WV-STEP); purposes, development and implementation of program.

(a) The state board shall establish a program standard format to be made available to each county for the statewide testing of the educational progress of public school students in attaining a high quality education, hereinafter referred to as the WV-STEP program. The WV-STEP program may be administered by any teacher in West Virginia at their option. If a teacher chooses to administer the WV-STEP program the cost of duplicating the test and all other related expenses shall be funded by the county board by which the teacher is employed.
The WV-STEP program shall may provide information to:
(1) Assess the overall academic progress of students, including: (i) Identifying individual students' academic weaknesses and readiness; and (ii) identifying students who may need remediation;
(2) Assist the teacher in determining student promotion;
(3) Compare achievement of students in West Virginia to achievement of students on a national basis;
(4) Assess the strengths and weaknesses of school performance;
(5) Assess the effects of state and local educational programs;
(6) Make decisions at the state and local level with regard to educational matters, including: (i) The need for new or revised educational programs and the need to terminate existing educational programs; (ii) overall curriculum development and revision activities; and (iii) teacher training and staff development activities. and
(7) Inform the public of the overall quality of education in individual schools and school districts.
(b) The state board shall prepare detailed design specifications for the WV-STEP program which accomplish the following:
(1) Take into account the state learning outcome statements in the basic skill areas of reading, composition, mathematics and other subject areas as determined by the state board; and
(2) Include testing of students' higher level cognitive thinking in each subject area tested.
"Learning outcome statements" means statements developed and adopted by the state board which for the purposes of this article have been fully and properly field tested to ensure their reliability and validity in indicating the knowledge base and skills expected of students for particular subject areas and which may be used to measure indicators of statewide standards for student progress in attaining a high quality education.
(c) The state board shall Individual teachers may implement the WV-STEP program as follows:
(1) Beginning in the school year one thousand nine hundred ninety--ninety-one ninety-five--ninety-six, and continuing thereafter:
(i) An evaluation designed to measure student readiness to begin the formal school curriculum shall may be administered to all any kindergarten public school students. Such evaluation shall be used solely to assist in making policy decisions at the state and local levels with regard to educational matters as outlined in subdivision six (6), subsection (a) of this section, and shall not be used for individual diagnostic or placement purposes.
(ii) An evaluation model for children in kindergarten, first and second grades shall may be developed by a committee of teachers, parents and principals selected by each regional educational service agency board within each regional educational service agency. The evaluation model shall may be developed using the following criteria:
(A) The model shall may be based on the fact that kindergarten through second grade is educationally continuous;
(B) The model shall may allow for variability in the achievement of children in kindergarten through second grade;
(C) The model shall may be applied continuously to reflect assessment as a teaching tool;
(D) Information gathered by the evaluation model shall may be used to adapt curriculum and to provide feedback to parents;
(E) The model shall may include a measure of achievement of the state learning outcomes.
The evaluation model, as developed by each regional educational service agency committee, shall be made available to the state board and to the legislative oversight commission on education accountability by the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety; and
(iii) A criterion referenced test measuring competencies based on the learning outcome statements shall may be administered to all public school students in grades one and two to measure their academic progress in reading and mathematics.
and
(iv) A criterion referenced test measuring competencies based on the learning outcome statements shall may be administered to all public school students in grades three and four to measure their academic progress in reading, composition and mathematics.
The results of the tests shall may be used to identify each student's deficiencies, aid in determining instruction needed by the student in achieving the statewide standards established for the respective grade and assist the teacher in determining student promotion.
(2) Beginning in the school year one thousand nine hundred ninety-one--ninety-two ninety-five--ninety-six, and continuing thereafter:
(i) A criterion referenced test measuring competencies based on the learning outcome statements for reading, composition and mathematics in grade five shall may be administered to all public school students in grade five. Each year thereafter, a criterion referenced test for these subject areas shall may be administered to students in the next higher grade through grade eight; and
(ii) Criterion referenced testing measuring competencies based on the learning outcome statements in additional subject areas shall may be implemented as funds are available on a schedule determined by the board.
(3) Beginning in the school year one thousand nine hundred ninety--ninety-one, and continuing thereafter, National Assessment of Educational Progress Program tests shall be administered in academic areas at the various grades designated by the National Assessment of Educational Progress officials to provide comparisons of West Virginia students to a national sample.
(d) The state board shall revise and update the learning outcome statements as necessary and shall determine a schedule for the annual administration of the WV-STEP program tests. The state superintendent is responsible for the overall for the development implementation and monitoring of the WV-STEP program. The state board may establish a pilot program to implement the WV-STEP program prior to the required implementation dates under subsection (c) of this section.
(e) Any student who is unable to take any of the tests prescribed in this section because of absence from school and provides school authorities with a valid reason for such absence shall be given the missed test as soon as possible following the student's return to school. An exceptional child is subject to testing under the WV-STEP program only to the extent specified in that child's individualized education program (IEP).
(f) (e) The parent or guardian of each student tested under the WV-STEP program shall be notified in writing of the students test score, along with the average test score of all other students in the same grade at the school who were tested. The state board shall promulgate rules for the compilation of aggregate test scores by grade in such manner as to permit the comparison of student performance at different schools within and among the various school districts. The test scores of all students taking the test at each school shall be compiled by the district pursuant to such rules, shall be made available for public inspection and shall be included in the school and county report cards under section four of this article. However, no individual student's WV-STEP scores may be disclosed to the public.
(g) The department of education shall take necessary administrative action under section five of this article to monitor and evaluate the curriculum and instruction methods in each school district to ensure compliance with the standards and purposes of this article.

§18-2E-4. Better schools accountability; school, school district and statewide school report cards.

(a) For the purpose of providing information to the parents of public school children and the general public on the quality of education in the public schools which is uniform and comparable between schools within and among the various school districts, the state board shall prepare forms for school, school district and statewide school report cards and shall promulgate rules concerning the collection and reporting of data and the preparation, printing and distribution of report cards under this section. The forms shall provide for brief, concise reporting in nontechnical language of required information. Any technical or explanatory material a county board wishes to include shall be contained in a separate appendix available to the general public upon request.
(b) The school report cards shall include:
(1) The following indicators of student performance at the school in comparison with the county, state, regional and national student performance, as applicable: Student performance by grade level in the various subjects tested under the statewide testing of educational progress program; School attendance rates; the percent of students not promoted to next grade; the graduation rate; and student mobility (turnover shown as a percent of transfers out and a percent of transfers in); and
(2) The following indicators of school performance in comparison with the aggregate of all other schools in the county and the state, as applicable: Average class size; percent of enrollments in courses in high school mathematics, science, English and social science; amount of time per day devoted to mathematics, science, English and social science at middle, junior high and high school grade levels; percent of enrollments in college preparatory, general education and vocational education programs; pupil-teacher ratio; number of exceptions to pupil-teacher ratio requested by the county board and the number of exceptions granted; the number of split-grade classrooms; pupil-administrator ratio; operating expenditure per pupil; county expenditure by fund in graphic display; and the average degree classification and years of experience of the administrators and teachers at the school.
(3) Every county board of education shall annually determine the number of administrators, classroom teachers and service personnel employed that exceeds the number allowed by the public school support plan and determine the amount of salary supplements that would be available per state authorized employee if all expenditures for the excess employees were converted to annual salaries for state authorized administrators, classroom teachers and service personnel within their county. The information shall be published annually in each school report card of each such county.
(c) The school district report card shall include the data for each school for each separately listed applicable indicator and the aggregate of the data for all schools, as applicable, in the county for each indicator. The statewide school report card shall include the data for each county for each separately listed indicator and the aggregate for all counties for each indicator.
(d) The report cards shall be prepared using actual local school, county, state, regional and national data indicating the present performance of the school and shall also include the state norms and the upcoming year's targets for the school and the county board.
The state board shall provide technical assistance to each county board in preparing the school and school district report cards.
Each school district board shall prepare report cards in accordance with the guidelines set forth in this section. The school district report cards shall be presented at a regular school board meeting subject to applicable notice requirements and shall be made available to a newspaper of general circulation serving the district. The school report cards shall be mailed directly to the parent or parents of any child enrolled in that school. In addition, each county board shall submit the completed report cards to the state board which shall make copies available to any person requesting them.
The report cards shall be completed and disseminated prior to the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine, and in each year thereafter, and shall be based upon information for the current school year, or for the most recent school year for which the information is available, in which case the year shall be clearly footnoted.
(e) In addition to the requirements of subsection (c) of this section, the school district report card shall list: (1) The names of the members of the district school board, the dates upon which their terms expire and whether they have attended an orientation program for new members approved by the state board and conducted by the West Virginia school board association or other approved organizations, and other school board member training programs; and (2) the names of the district school superintendent and every assistant and associate superintendent and any training programs related to their area of school administration which they have attended. The information shall also be reported by district in the statewide school report card.
(f) The state board shall develop and implement a separate report card for nontraditional public schools pursuant to the appropriate provisions of this section to the extent practicable.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the mandate that the WV-STEP test be administered in all the county schools and to permit the teachers to have an option as to whether or not they choose to administer the test. The counties shall bear the cost of duplicating the test.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.