S257 - Appropriations Act of 2017. (SL 2017-57)

Overview: S.L. 2017-57, Sec. 7.26, as amended by S.L. 2017-197, Sec. 2.5 and Sec. 2.18, and S.L. 2017-206, Sec. 1, makes various changes to the school performance grades in order to be compliant with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The section modifies the requirements for the annual school report card to include student progress in achieving English language proficiency and school performance of certain subgroups of students. Additionally, for high schools, the report card must include measures of course participation in the Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education Program.

The section clarifies that only schools receiving overall school performance grades of D or F must provide notice in writing to the parent or guardian of all students enrolled in the school, regardless of subgroup performance grades.

The section modifies the calculation of the school achievement score to include one point for each percent of students who progress in achieving English language proficiency on annual assessments. It clarifies that annual math assessments include math courses with end-of-course tests for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, and for students in ninth through twelfth grade, the math assessment is either for Algebra I/Math I or for students who completed that course before ninth grade, another mathematics course with an end-of-course test.

The section requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to use the Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS) to calculate school performance scores and grades for the following subgroups at each school that has a minimum number of students as established by the SBE: economically disadvantaged students; students from major racial and ethnic groups; children with disabilities; and English-language learners.

The section requires the SBE to provide user-friendly access to the annual report cards on the Department of Public Instruction's website.

The section directs the SBE to use the school performance grades to comply with ESSA. Since the terminology for the measures making up the school performance grades conflict with the terminology used by ESSA, the SBE is directed how to label the measures, unless different labels are required in order to comply with federal law. For elementary and middle schools, the achievement score must be used as the measure of academic achievement and the school growth score must be used as the measure of school quality and student success. For high schools, the measure of academic achievement includes:

• Math I/Algebra I end-of-course (EOC) proficiency (or other math course in certain circumstances)
• English II EOC proficiency
• School growth score
• Graduation rate
• English language proficiency

The measure of school quality and student success for high schools will include:

• Biology EOC proficiency
• Math III/Algebra II completion
• Students meeting minimum standardized test requirements for admission to The University of North Carolina
• Students meeting specified career and technical education benchmarks

This section became effective July 1, 2017.