An Act To Clarify the Use of Student Data from the Statewide Assessment Test

Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §13705, first ¶,  as amended by PL 2015, c. 18, §1, is further amended to read:

The requirements of this chapter apply to all school administrative units beginning in the 2016-2017 2017-2018 school year. In the 2014-2015 school year, each unit shall develop a system that meets the standards of this chapter, in collaboration with teachers, principals, administrators, school board members, parents and other members of the public. In the 2015-2016 school year, each unit shall operate as a pilot project the system developed in the prior 2014-2015 school year by applying it in one or more of the schools in the unit or by applying it without using results in any official manner or shall employ other means to provide information to enable the unit to adjust the system prior to the first year of full implementation. In the 2016-2017 school year, each unit shall operate as a pilot project the system developed in the 2014-2015 school year by applying it to all of the schools and applicable staff in the unit. At the end of the 2016-2017 school year, units may modify the system approved in the 2015-2016 school year. The modified system must meet the standards of this chapter. Nothing in this section prohibits a unit from fully implementing the system earlier than the 2016-2017 2017-2018 school year.

Sec. 2. Delay using measurements of student learning and growth in the performance evaluation and professional growth system. Prior to the 2017-2018 school year, the Commissioner of Education may not require a school administrative unit to implement the measurements of student learning and growth as part of the performance evaluation and professional growth system established pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, chapter 508.

Sec. 3. Delay using statewide assessment data of student academic achievement in school performance grading system. Notwithstanding the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, chapter 222 or any other provision of law, prior to the 2017-2018 school year, neither the Department of Education nor any other state agency may use statewide assessment data of student academic achievement as part of a system to evaluate or rate the performance of public schools in the State that is similar to or different from the school performance grading system developed by the Department of Education and introduced on May 1, 2013.

Nothing in this section may be construed to prevent or inhibit the Department of Education from providing an annual report of the results of the state assessment program required by the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 6204 to meet the federal statutes and regulations pertaining to student assessment as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, 20 United States Code, Chapter 70 and the federal Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, 20 United States Code, Chapter 70.