OPE National Accountability Bill Summary

Article 1
Value-added Assessment, Promotion, and Graduation

• The State Board of Education must establish annual tests in grades 2-12.
• In grades 2-8, students must be tested annually in English-language arts, math, science and social studies. In grades 9-12, the state must establish subject-specific tests in all areas where standards have been approved. All tests must be aligned with state standards.
• The tests must be vertically scaled wherever appropriate, cover the full range of curriculum, and consist of fresh, non-redundant, equivalent test forms.
• The state will determine one year's worth of academic growth on value-added using the national norm gain. If the national norm gain is not available, the state will use the average statewide value-added teacher effect.
• The boundaries for value-added range will be defined by standard error: 1 ½ standard errors at the top and two standard errors at the bottom.

• Students must be Proficient or higher on the standardized tests in English-language arts, math, science and social studies to pass from fourth to fifth and eighth to ninth grades.
• Special education students must meet the requirements in their individualized education programs in order to pass from fourth to fifth and eighth to ninth grades.
• Students must score Proficient or higher on 10th-grade level tests in English-language arts, math, science and social studies to graduate from high school. This does not apply to special education students.

• Any student who scores below Proficient may take a retest the following fall. Students who do not pass the high school graduation exam in 10th grade may retake it twice in each of the two subsequent school years.
• Districts must provide extra instruction to students who do not achieve Proficiency on any of the tests. Each such student must have a personalized education plan prepared by the school.

Article II
School and District Accountability

• Redefines an empowerment district to be an under-performing district that does not meet the requirements in its state-approved academic recovery plan within three years.
• Incorporates value-added assessment and AYP into the School Performance Incentive Program.
• Under-performing schools are defined as schools that have value-added on average below a year's worth of growth for two consecutive years and/or fail to meet federal AYP for two consecutive years.
• Within 30 days of a school being labeled under-performing, the local Intermediate Unit must name a regional assistance team with at least two teachers and two principals. The team may also include business, community and professional development representatives.
• The state will provide $75 per student (ADM) annually to be administered by the regional assistance team. The grant will not be less than $100,000 per year.
• The team has three years to improve the school. It has the power to make recommendations to the superintendent and may implement those recommendations if the superintendent refuses to.
• If a school is not satisfactory within three years, the school board can turn it into a charter school, make it an independent school, contract with a nonprofit or for-profit entity to run the school, reconstitute the school, change the staffing or close the school. If the school is not closed, students will have the right to transfer to another school within the district.

• Districts will be evaluated on value-added, AYP, student attendance rates and changes averaged over a three-year period, graduate rates and changes averaged over a three-year period, and dropout rates and changes averaged over a three-year period.
• Under-performing districts will be defined the same way as under-performing schools and receive the same regional assistance. The regional assistance teams will consist of at least four teachers and four administrators; it can also include community, business and professional development representatives.
• The team must create an academic recovery plan for the district and present it within 150 days of being appointed. The team must hold at least one public hearing during this time. After the plan is submitted to the school board, it must be transmitted to and approved by the State Department of Education.
• The team has three years to implement the plan and for the district to become satisfactory. During that time, the team will receive $450,000 plus $75 per student (ADM) annually.
• If a district does not sufficiently improve, it will become an Empowerment district.

• Each IU except 2 and 26 must establish regional assistance teams.
• Advanced and Distinguished teachers and Distinguished administrators may participate on teams.
• No one may be a member of the team for more than three consecutive years.
• Members may be full- or part-time.
• To fund the requisite capacity-building, each IU will receive from the State Department of Education $2 per student (ADM) multiplied by the number of students in the IU's school districts.

Article III
Teacher and Administrator Evaluation and Compensation

• Where value-added is applicable, teachers will be evaluated 50 percent on a three-year running average of their students' value-added and 50 percent on the four domains in the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development by a peer teacher drawn from the advanced or distinguished categories described below.
• All other teachers will be evaluated 50 percent on empirical student achievement goals developed with the principal and 50 percent on the ASCD scale or a similar one based on the teacher's subject area (i.e., art, music, physical education).
• Apprentice teachers will be evaluated annually.
• Career teachers will be evaluated at least every three years.
• Advanced and Distinguished Teachers will be evaluated at least every five years.
• Administrators will be evaluated 25 percent on value-added, 25 percent on federal AYP, and 50 percent on the six domains in the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC).
• Principals will be evaluated every three years.
• State Department of Education is responsible for creating rating systems based on ASCD and ISLLC.

• Current teachers may be exempt from the career ladder, but not from the evaluation system. Teachers choosing to 'grandfather' themselves will be paid on the traditional salary scale already in effect in the district. All new employees must be paid based on the career ladder.
• Alternative career ladders can be proposed by the district if they meet specified criteria.
• The teacher career ladder is based on stages of Apprentice, Career, Advanced and Distinguished.
• The base salary at each level must be at least 15 percent higher than the highest salary at the preceding level, with the exception of the differential between Advanced and Distinguished.
• The base salary must not be more than one standard deviation below the average base salary for the regional market, as defined by the State Department of Education.
• Apprentice teachers must have temporary certification or their Instructional I certificate and have completed Praxis II or other state-determined tests. They must be observed at least three times per year and have three years to become a Career teacher. Apprentice teachers receive a service increment following their first and second years.
• Career teachers must have three years of experience as Apprentices, Instructional II certification, a Master's degree, value-added at least Proficient and ASCD at least Proficient. They must be observed at least three times during their evaluation year. If they are observed below Proficient in any area, they must be evaluated again the following year. Provided that all evaluations meet stated requirements, a Career teacher can remain at this rung of the ladder for his/her entire career. Career teachers can receive a maximum of six service increments.
• Advanced teachers must have at least two years of experience as a Career teacher, value-added of Advanced and ASCD of Distinguished.
• Distinguished teachers must have at least two years of experience as an Advanced teacher, value-added of Advanced, ASCD of Distinguished and certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Distinguished teachers will receive at least $5,000 or 10 percent (whichever is greater) more than the highest salary for an Advanced teacher.
• Teachers already in the system may opt out of the career ladder. It will apply to all new teachers hired once the bill becomes law.
• All salaries will be determined by local collective bargaining, but may not include increments for credits earned beyond a degree.
• Districts may implement their own career ladder as long as it at least includes stages for Novice, Career and Distinguished teachers and meets other criteria. Substitute plans must be approved by the State Department of Education.
• Administrators will have a career ladder with three steps: Intern, Career and Distinguished. It is entirely analogous to the teacher career ladder but based on administrator evaluation; it embodies the same principles for salary increments between rungs, regional market areas and credits beyond degrees.
• Teachers and administrators who move to a lower stage of the career ladder will have their salaries frozen, except for cost of living adjustments. They will not receive retroactive increases once they return to their previous position.

• Removes existing guidelines for additional credits and degrees.
• Teachers and administrators who hold a degree (master's or doctorate) that is not required will receive additional salary. This must be no less than $2,000 per year for a master's degree for Novice and Apprentice teachers and for a doctorate for administrators.

• Directs districts to provide professional development to help teachers succeed in the new evaluation system and under PAR.
• Directs districts to create a PAR plan.

• Allows districts to provide differentiated pay and/or bonuses to teachers being recruited for difficult-to-fill positions such as science and math, or to work in schools with less-than-desirable working conditions.
• Allows districts to assign existing teachers to serve where they are most needed within the district, provided they are properly certified to do so and such a move does not present significant hardship.

Article IV
Professional Development, Peer Assistance and Mentoring

• Every district must name a PAR committee not to exceed eleven members that includes at least one administrative representative selected by the superintendent, at least two teacher representatives who are Advanced or Distinguished teachers and selected by the union. The number of teachers must exceed the number of administrators by one, and all decisions of the committee must be made by a 2/3 vote.
• Teachers will be referred for PAR if their value-added average is below Proficient for two consecutive years or if any part of their ASCD evaluation is Unsatisfactory for two consecutive rating periods. Teachers may also self-refer.
• Teachers will not receive salary increments while in PAR.
• After one year, the teacher will be evaluated and the mentor will submit a report to the PAR committee.
• If the teacher is evaluated as Proficient in all categories and the mentor's report indicates that all improvement goals have been met, PAR will end and the teacher will return to regular practice.
• If the report indicates that the teacher is making progress but the evaluation is not yet Proficient, the teacher will receive a second year of PAR.
• If the report and the evaluation are Unsatisfactory, the teacher will be dismissed.
• If a teacher cannot reach Proficiency after two years of PAR, the teacher will be dismissed.

• Apprentice teachers will receive mentoring for at least two and no more than three years.
• The mentoring must include at least one classroom visit per week lasting at least one hour, followed by oral and written comments.
• At the end of the mentoring period, the mentor is required to submit a report on the Apprentice teacher's progress.
• Advanced, Distinguished or select Career teachers may serve as mentors.
• Mentors will be released from their classroom responsibilities at least half-time and may serve in the position for no more than three consecutive years.
• Intern principals will be mentored by a Distinguished principal.

• This is the voluntary group incentive program.
• Five to 10 teachers who teach the same grade level or subject may form a team.
• The group must submit a plan and budget to the principal; the budget is for supplies to accomplish the plan and may be no more than $5,000.
• If the principal does not approve the plan, the group can appeal to a three-person committee with the same makeup as the PAR committee (one union rep, one administration rep, one professional development rep).
• Plans will be evaluated based on whether the teachers achieve either value-added above one year's worth of growth or value-added at one year's worth of growth and completion of at least one predetermined data-driven goal.
• If the group achieves its goal, each member will receive $3,500.

Article V
Superintendents and Boards of School Directors

• Superintendents and assistant superintendents must be evaluated at least once every three years.
• Twenty-five percent of the evaluation is based on value-added.
• Twenty-five percent of the evaluation is based on federal AYP.
• Fifty percent of the evaluation is based on the scale developed by the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium.
• Assistant superintendents are to be evaluated by superintendents; superintendents are to be evaluated by the school board.

• Requires 15 hours of professional development for all new school board members in their first year.
• In each year after the first year, school board members must receive eight hours of professional development.
• Applies to all board members elected after bill passage.

Article VI
Power Sharing and Innovation Grants

• In order for teachers to be held accountable fairly under these provisions, teachers must share in the power and work in partnership with administration to develop the following aspects of their profession:
• Curriculum and textbooks
• Professional development plans
• Student assessments

• Three kinds of Innovation Grants will be offered: district-union power-sharing, teaching-learning centers, and school redesign.
• Grant proposals must be submitted to the local school board and then transmitted to the State Department of Education.
• Grants will last three years. All grants are to be for up to $100,000 in the first year (except for the teaching-learning centers, which can be up to $200,000). In each of the second and third years, the grants are decreased by 25 percent.
• No district can receive more than 10 percent of the Innovation Grants.
• There will be up to 50 Innovation Grants in the first year. The State Department of Education will decide the number of grants in subsequent years.

Article VII
State Level Accountability and Capacity

• The commission will oversee the State Department of Education's implementation of the accountability provisions. Specifically, it will focus on value-added assessment, the evaluation models the Department creates, the career ladder models districts create and submit to the Department, PAR, the Innovation Grants, and school and district accountability.
• The commission will have 23 members:
• the chairperson of the Council of Basic Education (who will serve as chairperson of the commission)
• three public school teachers appointed by the governor
• three public school principals appointed by the governor
• three public school superintendents appointed by the governor
• three parents appointed by the governor
• four business or community leaders, one each appointed by the majority and minority leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives
• the chairman and minority chairman of the Senate and of the House of Representatives
• Appointed members will serve for four-year terms (except when the commission is first formed, at which point terms will vary so they will ultimately be staggered).

• Establishes an Office of Accountability within the State Department of Education to implement the accountability provisions detailed in the bill.

Article VIII
Appropriations and Implementation Time Line

• The State Department of Education will pay the application fee for teachers seeking NBPTS certification.

• The State will appropriate to each district sufficient funds to employ at least one full-time equivalent "teacher coach" for every 300 students to assist in regular enhancement of teaching practice.
• The State will appropriate to each district sufficient funds to provide teachers with at least 12 professional development days or their equivalent each year

• Districts will provide struggling students with at least the equivalent of 10 additional academic days in class sizes of 10.

• July 1, 2005: Everything not specifically mentioned below takes effect.
• 2006-2007: State assessments and career ladder to be developed.
• July 1, 2007: Voluntary group collaboration incentives take effect.
• 2007-2008: All state assessments must be administered. Students who are not proficient will begin receiving remediation and have the ability to take the test over.
• 2007-2008: Career ladder in effect for Apprentice teachers.
• July 1, 2009: PAR, regional assistance teams, new definition of Empowerment districts, and superintendent evaluation takes effect.
• 2009-2010: New teacher/other administrator evaluation system takes effect, all state assessments are fully implemented, and career ladder fully takes effect.
• July 1, 2010: Student accountability applies to fourth-grade students.
• July 1, 2014: Student accountability applies to eighth-grade students.
• July 1, 2018: Student accountability applies to 12th-grade students.

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