NOTICES
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Approval of Standards of the Department of Education Necessary to Comply with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
[32 Pa.B. 5151] Section 2603-B(d)(10)(i) of the Public School Code of 1949 (24 P. S. § 26-2603-B(d)(10)(i)), added by section 31 of the act of June 29, 2002 (P. L. ______ , No. 88) (Act 88), empowers the State Board of Education (State Board) to:
Approve or disapprove standards proposed by the [D]epartment [of Education] in order to comply with the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-110, 115 Stat. 1425) to maintain the eligibility of this Commonwealth to receive Federal funding for education programs. The [State B]oard shall approve or disapprove the standards within 30 days of submission to the [State B]oard's office or at its next scheduled meeting, whichever is sooner. Failure of the board to approve or disapprove the standards within the time established under this section shall be deemed an approval of the standards.The standards proposed by the Department of Education (Department) and approved or deemed approved by the State Board under § 2603-B(d)(10)(i) must be deposited with the Pennsylvania Bulletin for publication. 24 P. S. § 26-2603-B(d)(10)(ii). However, as provided by Act 88, standards promulgated by the Department under § 2603-B(d)(10) are exempt from the following laws:
(A) Sections 201 through 205 of the act of July 31, 1968 (P. L. 769, No. 240), referred to as the Commonwealth Documents Law.
(B) Section 204(b) of the act of October 15, 1980 (P. L. 950, No. 164), known as the Commonwealth Attorneys Act.
(C) The act of June 25, 1982 (P. L. 633, No. 181), known as the Regulatory Review Act.
24 P. S. § 26-2603-B(d)(10)(iii).
On September 18, 2002, the Department presented to the State Board two sets of proposed standards necessary to comply with the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, 20 U.S.C. § 6301 et seq. At its meeting held September 19, 2002, the State Board approved both sets of proposed standards. The resolutions adopted by the State Board reflecting its approval of the Department standards appear as follows. The State Board expects the Department to deposit the approved standards for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
JIM BUCKHEIT,
Acting Executive Director
RESOLUTION Whereas, The United States Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) (P. L. 107-110, 115 Stat. 1425), which was signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002; and
Whereas, NCLB, inter alia, amends Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (P. L. 89-10, 79 Stat. 27) (Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged), 20 U.S.C. § 6301 et seq.; and
Whereas, The purpose of Title I is to ensure that all children have the opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State achievement standards and academic assessments; and
Whereas, In furtherance of this purpose, Title I provides grants to State education agencies and sub-grants to local educational agencies (or LEAs); and
Whereas, Progress toward the fulfillment of Title I's purpose can be made by closing the achievement gap between high and low-performing children, especially the achievement gap between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers; and holding schools, LEAs and States accountable for improving the academic achievement of all students; and
Whereas, State and local educational agencies must comply with the requirements of NCLB in order to maintain eligibility for continued funding under Title I; and
Whereas, Section 1111 of Title I, added by NCLB (20 U.S.C. § 6311), provides that any State desiring a grant is required to submit to the U.S. Secretary of Education a plan which, inter alia, shall demonstrate that the State has developed and is implementing a single, statewide State accountability system that will be effective in ensuring that all LEAs, public elementary schools and public secondary schools make adequate yearly progress (AYP) as defined under Section 1111(b)(2)(C) of Title I (20 U.S.C. § 6311(b)(2)(C)); and
Whereas, Section 1111(b)(2)(E) of Title I, added by NCLB (20 U.S.C. § 6311(b)(2)(E)), requires each State, using data for the 2001-02 school year, to establish a starting point for measuring the percentage of students meeting or exceeding the State's proficient level of academic achievement on the State assessments; and
Whereas, Section 1111(b)(2)(C) of Title I provides that the State shall define AYP in a manner that applies the same standards of achievement to all public elementary school and secondary school students in the State; is statistically valid and reliable; results in continuous and substantial academic improvement for all students; and measures the progress of public elementary schools, secondary schools, LEAs and the State based primarily on the academic assessments described in Section 1111(b)(3) of Title I (20 U.S.C. § 6311(b)(3)); and
Whereas, Section 1111(b)(2)(C) of Title I further provides that the State must define AYP in a manner that includes separate measurable annual objectives for the achievement of all public elementary and secondary school students and the achievement of economically disadvantaged students; students from major racial and ethnic groups; students with disabilities; and students with limited English proficiency; and
Whereas, Section 1111(b)(2)(C) of Title I additionally provides that for economically disadvantaged students, students from major racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, and students with limited English proficiency, the disaggregation of data shall not be required in a case in which the number of students in the category is insufficient to yield statistically reliable information or the results would reveal personally identifiable information about an individual student; and section 1111(h)(2)(D) of Title I (relating to reporting requirements) (20 U.S.C. § 6311(h)(2)(D)) specifies that the number shall be determined by the State; and
Whereas, Section 1111(b)(2)(C) of Title I further specifies that the State's definition of AYP must include graduation rates for public secondary school students and at least one other academic indicator for all public elementary school children (which must be valid, reliable and consistent with recognized professional and technical standards, if any); and
Whereas, The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) submitted to the United States Department of Education (USDE), on June 12, 2001, its Consolidated Application (thereby applying for funding for fourteen programs through a single application) and published the Consolidated Application on its web site; and provided numerous opportunities for input through the interactive web site, a public input meeting, meetings with a Committee of Practitioners established under section 1903(b) of Title I, added by NCLB (20 U.S.C. § 6573(b)), and a focus group, and the solicitation of written comments; and
Whereas, During meetings with the Committee of Practitioners and focus group, PDE specifically sought input regarding the definition of the starting point for measuring AYP; the method of measurement; and other indicators of AYP; and
Whereas, Based on research, consensus, and discussion, PDE recommends the adoption of the ''intermediate method,'' which involves ''stepped'' goals, as a means of calculating AYP, with PDE providing yearly targets to assist local educational agencies in measuring progress within this method, as this method provides local educational agencies with greater flexibility; and
Whereas, Pennsylvania has already adopted ''proficiency'' as a measure of student progress in state assessments; and
Whereas, PDE has recommended as a standard that 75 be adopted as the required number of students tested (per building) to form a group for purposes of measuring AYP of students who are members of economically disadvantaged, major racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, and limited English proficient students; and
Whereas, PDE has recommended as a standard that child attendance rates be adopted as the required additional indicator of AYP for elementary schools and students; and
Whereas, Section 2603-B(d)(10) of the Public School Code of 1949 (24 P. S. § 26-2603-B(d)(10)), added by section 31 of Act 88 of 2002, provides that the State Board of Education shall have the authority and duty to approve or disapprove standards proposed by PDE in order to comply with the provisions of NCLB to maintain eligibility for federal funding, within thirty (30) days of submission to the State Board's office or at the State Board's next scheduled meeting, whichever is sooner; and
Whereas, PDE submitted its proposed standards to the State Board on September 18, 2002; and
Whereas, On September 18, 2002, the special committee of the State Board established to work with PDE in the development and review of standards necessary to comply with NCLB (the NCLB Committee) conducted a public meeting to review and discuss the standards presented by PDE for approval by the State Board and to receive public comment on the proposals; and Whereas, The NCLB Committee on September 18, 2002, approved a motion to recommend to the State Board that it approve the standards proposed by PDE; and
Whereas, At the regular business meeting of the State Board held September 19, 2002, the Secretary of Education made a detailed presentation explaining the standards presented by PDE for approval by the State Board; and
Whereas, The State Board at its September 19, 2002, meeting publicly voted to approve the proposed standards presented to it by PDE.
Now, Therefore, Be It
Resolved: That Pennsylvania's current definition of ''proficiency'' shall be used as the starting point for measuring AYP under NCLB; and be it further
Resolved: That the ''intermediate method'' shall be adopted as the method of calculating AYP, with PDE providing yearly targets to assist local educational agencies in measuring progress within this method; and be it further
Resolved: That child attendance rates shall be adopted as the required additional indicator of AYP for elementary schools and students; and be it further
Resolved: That seventy-five (75) shall be adopted as the required number of students tested (per building) to form a group for purposes of measuring AYP of students who are economically disadvantaged, members of major racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, and limited English proficient students.
RESOLUTION Whereas, The purpose of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) (P. L. 89-10, 79 Stat. 27) (Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged), 20 U.S.C. § 6301 et seq., can be accomplished by the implementation of several actions including, but not limited to: ensuring that high-quality academic assessments and accountability assessments are aligned with challenging State academic standards so progress can be measured against common expectations for student achievement; closing the achievement gap between high and low-performing children, especially the achievement gap between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers; and holding schools, local educational agencies (or ''LEAs'') and states accountable for improving the academic achievement of all students; and
Whereas, State and local educational agencies must comply with the requirements of Title I, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) (P. L. 107-110, 115 Stat. 1425), in order to maintain eligibility for continued federal funding; and
Whereas, Section 1111(b)(2)(A) of Title I, as added by NCLB (20 U.S.C. § 6311(b)(2)(A)), requires each State to demonstrate that it has developed and is implementing a single, statewide State accountability system that will be of high quality, technically valid and reliable, aligned with the State's academic content and student achievement standards, and based upon the same content expectations for all children; and
Whereas, Section 1111(b)(3)(A) of Title I (20 U.S.C. § 6311(b)(3)(A)) specifically requires that, beginning no later than the 2005-06 school year, States assess all students in grades three through eight against the challenging State academic content standards in, at a minimum, math and reading and/or language arts and, beginning in the 2007-08 school year, in science for students in grades four, seven and ten; and
Whereas, Pennsylvania currently uses the PSSA to assess students in grades three, five, eight and eleven in reading and mathematics and to assess students in grades six, nine and eleven in writing; and
Whereas, Many LEAs currently have in place assessments for grades four, six and seven; and
Whereas, The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) solicited recommendations for designing an assessment model that considers local control issues, makes the best use of existing assessment structures, maintains the historical base of LEA assessments to the extent possible, and meets NCLB's content, comparability and technical requirements; and
Whereas, The Committee of Practitioners established under section 1903(b) of Title I, added by NCLB (20 U.S.C. § 6573(b)), and focus group recommended that to the extent possible, the State use assessments that are currently in place; and
Whereas, The Committee of Practitioners recommended the Value-Added Assessment System, as a component of the system of assessments, which will provide LEAs with analysis and reports to offer valuable information that will be used for focused program improvement; and
Whereas, Section 3121 of Title III of the ESEA, added by NCLB (20 U.S.C. § 6841), requires that each State approve evaluation measures that are designed to assess the progress of children in attaining English proficiency, including a child's level of comprehension, listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in English; and
Whereas, Pennsylvania currently has more than 32,000 students who are receiving language proficiency services; and
Whereas, LEAs with large student populations use several commercial assessments; and
Whereas, Some LEAs currently use commercial assessments that measure skills in the five domains, but are not totally aligned with Pennsylvania academic standards and content expectations; and
Whereas, Pennsylvania will serve as the lead state in a consortium of states to develop an assessment to meet the needs of NCLB; and
Whereas, PDE has recommended as a standard supplementing current use of the PSSA with the use of a limited number of commercially available assessments already used as local assessments in reading and math for grades four, six and seven; and
Whereas, Section 2603-B(d)(10) of the Public School Code of 1949 (24 P. S. § 26-2603-B(d)(10)), added by section 31 of Act 88 of 2002, provides that the State Board of Education shall have the authority and duty to approve or disapprove standards proposed by PDE in order to comply with the provisions of NCLB to maintain eligibility for funding, within thirty (30) days of submission to the State Board office or at the next scheduled meeting, whichever is sooner; and
Whereas, PDE submitted its proposed standards to the State Board on September 18, 2002; and
Whereas, On September 18, 2002, the special committee of the State Board established to work with PDE in the development and review of standards necessary to comply with NCLB (the NCLB Committee) conducted a public meeting to review and discuss the standards presented by PDE for approval by the State Board and to receive public comment on the proposals; and
Whereas, The NCLB Committee on September 18, 2002, approved a motion to recommend to the State Board that it approve the standards proposed by PDE; and
Whereas, At the regular business meeting of the State Board held September 19, 2002, the Secretary of Education made a detailed presentation explaining the standards presented by PDE for approval by the State Board; and
Whereas, The State Board at its September 19, 2002, meeting publicly voted to approve the proposed standards presented to it by PDE.
Now, Therefore, Be It
Resolved: That administration of the PSSA shall be continued, and the PSSA shall be supplemented with a limited number of commercially available assessments currently used as local assessments in grades four, six and seven for reading and mathematics; and be it further
Resolved: That the Value Added Assessment System shall be added as a component of the assessment system model; and be it further
Resolved: That upon completion and availability of the language proficiency assessment developed by the Consortium, local educational agencies shall be required to administer that test to students with limited English proficiency in accordance with the requirements of NCLB; and be it further
Resolved: That administration of an approved language proficiency assessment(s) that measures skills in the five domains shall be required during the transition years until the test developed by the Consortium is available.
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 02-1813. Filed for public inspection October 11, 2002, 9:00 a.m.]
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