Minnesota Legislature
Office of the Revisor of Statutes
Minnesota Session Laws - 2000, Regular Session
Key: (1) language to be deleted (2) new language
CHAPTER 500-S.F.No. 3286
An act relating to education; balancing statewide
accountability and district autonomy under the profile
of learning; amending grading criteria and
recordkeeping practices; amending Minnesota Statutes
1998, sections 120A.41; and 120B.03, by adding
subdivisions; Minnesota Statutes 1999 Supplement,
sections 120B.02; 120B.30, subdivision 1; and 120B.35;
repealing Minnesota Statutes 1998, sections 120B.03,
subdivisions 1, 2, and 3; and 120B.04; Minnesota
Rules, parts 3501.0330, subpart 2, item A; 3501.0330,
subpart 7, item B; 3501.0360; 3501.0370, subparts 1,
2, and 4; 3501.0420, subpart 1, item D, and subpart 4;
and 3501.0430.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 120A.41, is
amended to read:
120A.41 [LENGTH OF SCHOOL YEAR; DAYS OF INSTRUCTION.]
A school board's annual school calendar must include at
least three additional days of student instruction or staff
development training related to implementing section 120B.03,
subdivision 1a, paragraph (f), beyond the number of days of
student instruction the board formally adopted as its school
calendar at the beginning of the 1996-1997 school year.
Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 1999 Supplement, section
120B.02, is amended to read:
120B.02 [RESULTS-ORIENTED GRADUATION RULE; BASIC SKILLS
REQUIREMENTS; PROFILE OF LEARNING.]
(a) The legislature is committed to establishing a
rigorous, results-oriented graduation rule for Minnesota's
public school students. To that end, the commissioner shall use
its rulemaking authority under section 127A.05, subdivision 4,
to adopt a statewide, results-oriented graduation rule to be
implemented starting with students beginning ninth grade in the
1996-1997 school year. The commissioner shall not prescribe in
rule or otherwise the delivery system or form of instruction
that local school sites must use to meet the requirements
contained in this rule. For purposes of this chapter, a school
site is a separate facility, or a separate program within a
facility that a local school board recognizes as a school site.
(b) To successfully accomplish paragraph (a), the
commissioner shall set in rule high academic standards for all
students. The standards must contain the foundational skills in
the three core curricular areas of reading, writing, and
mathematics while meeting requirements for high school
graduation. The standards must also provide an opportunity for
students to excel by meeting higher academic standards through a
profile of learning that uses curricular requirements to allow
students to expand their knowledge and skills beyond the
foundational skills. All commissioner actions regarding the
rule must be premised on the following:
(1) the rule is intended to raise academic expectations for
students, teachers, and schools;
(2) any state action regarding the rule must evidence
consideration of school district autonomy; and
(3) the department of children, families, and learning,
with the assistance of school districts, must make available
information about all state initiatives related to the rule to
students and parents, teachers, and the general public in a
timely format that is appropriate, comprehensive, and readily
understandable.
(c) For purposes of adopting the rule, the commissioner, in
consultation with the department, recognized psychometric
experts in assessment, and other interested and knowledgeable
educators, using the most current version of professional
standards for educational testing, shall evaluate the
alternative approaches to assessment.
(d) The content of the graduation rule must differentiate
between minimum competencies reflected in the basic requirements
assessment and rigorous profile of learning standards. When
fully implemented, the requirements for high school graduation
in Minnesota must include both basic requirements and the
required profile of learning. The profile of learning must
measure student performance using performance-based assessments
compiled over time that integrate higher academic standards,
higher order thinking skills, and application of knowledge from
a variety of content areas. The profile of learning shall
include a broad range of academic experience and accomplishment
necessary to achieve the goal of preparing students to function
effectively as purposeful thinkers, effective communicators,
self-directed learners, productive group participants, and
responsible citizens. The commissioner shall develop and
disseminate to school districts a uniform method for reporting
student performance on the profile of learning.
(e) The profile of learning contains the following learning
areas:
(1) read, listen, and view;
(2) write and speak;
(3) arts and literature;
(4) mathematical concepts and applications;
(5) inquiry and research;
(6) scientific concepts and applications;
(7) social studies;
(8) physical education and lifetime fitness;
(9) economics and business;
(10) world languages; and
(11) technical and vocational education.
(f) The commissioner shall periodically review and report
on the assessment process and student achievement with the
expectation of raising the standards and expanding high school
graduation requirements.
(f) The commissioner shall report in writing to the
legislature annually by January 15 on its progress in developing
and implementing the graduation requirements according to the
requirements of this subdivision and section 120B.10 until such
time as all the graduation requirements are implemented.
(g) Beginning August 31, 2000, the commissioner must
publish, including in electronic format for the Internet, a
report, by school site, area learning center, and charter
school, of:
(1) the required preparatory content standards;
(2) the high school content standards required for
graduation; and
(3) the number of student waivers the district, area
learning center, or charter school approves under section
120B.03, subdivisions 4, 5, and 6, based on information each
district, area learning center and charter school provides.
(h) School districts must integrate required and elective
content standards in the scope and sequence of the district
curriculum.
(i) School districts are not required to adopt specific
provisions of the Goals 2000 and the federal School-to-Work
programs.
Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 120B.03, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:
Subd. 1a. [SCHOOL SITE DETERMINES REQUIRED CONTENT
STANDARDS.] (a) Notwithstanding any rule or law to the contrary,
by August 15 of each year, each school district, area learning
center, and charter school must notify the commissioner of the
preparatory and high school content standards required at each
site under paragraph (b).
(b)(1) Each public school site, by a majority vote of the
licensed teachers and administrators at the site voting jointly
and by a majority vote of the school board;
(2) each area learning center, by a majority vote of the
licensed teachers and administrators at the site voting jointly
and by a majority vote of the school board of the district in
which the center is located; and
(3) each charter school by a majority vote of the licensed
teachers and administrators at the charter school voting jointly
and with approval of the school's sponsor, must determine the
number of preparatory and high school content standards that the
school site requires students to complete, including the number
of high school content standards students must complete to
graduate.
(c) If a school site and the local school board, the area
learning center and the school board of the district in which
the center is located, or a charter school and its sponsor, are
unable to agree on the preparatory or high school content
standards required for students under paragraph (b), students at
the school site must complete the state-required content
standards.
(d) In addition to the reporting requirement under
paragraph (a), a district, area learning center, and charter
school shall report to the commissioner the schedule, by school
year, that each school site will use to implement all the state
required preparatory and high school content standards.
(e) Each district shall continue to implement the profile
of learning, provide learning opportunities for all students in
all preparatory content standards in learning areas one to nine,
and provide learning opportunities for students sufficient to
meet the state graduation requirements in the high school
content standards in all learning areas. A district shall offer
at least one foreign language in learning area ten.
(f) To implement preparatory and high school content
standards, school sites must work to improve the scope and
sequence of curriculum, research-based instructional skills of
teachers and other district staff who work with students, and
alternative assessments of student achievement.
Sec. 4. Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 120B.03, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:
Subd. 1b. [TRANSCRIPT DATA.] For the 1998-1999 school year
and later, a student's transcript shall record work completed in
each content standard implemented in the district, area learning
center, or charter school. For high school content standards
completed before the 2000-2001 school year, a student may
request that the transcript record a "complete" or "incomplete"
and not the numeric score recorded in an earlier school year.
Sec. 5. Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 120B.03, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:
Subd. 2a. [PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTS.] Districts, area
learning centers, and charter schools are not required to use
state or locally developed performance packages to assess
student achievement of a content standard. A district, area
learning center, or charter school must select performance
assessments that have a grading system comparable to the
criteria established under the definition of rubric contained in
rule and consistent with section 120B.03, subdivision 9.
Districts, area learning centers, and charter schools may use
one or more assessment methods to measure student performance on
one or more content standards. The commissioner shall not
mandate in rule or otherwise the assessment methods that local
sites must use to meet the requirements under this section.
Sec. 6. Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 120B.03, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:
Subd. 4. [RIGOROUS COURSE OF STUDY; WAIVER.] (a) Upon
receiving a student's application approved by the student's
parent or guardian, and with the recommendation of the student's
teacher, a school district, area learning center, or charter
school must declare that a student has completed a content
standard if the local school board, the school board of the
school district in which the area learning center is located, or
charter school board of directors determines that:
(1) the student is participating in a course of study
including an advanced placement or international baccalaureate
course or a learning opportunity outside the curriculum of the
district, area learning center, or charter school that is
equally or more rigorous than the content standard required by
the district, area learning center, or charter school or the
state graduation rule; and
(2) achieving the content standard to be waived would
preclude the student from participating in the rigorous course
of study or learning opportunity.
(b) A student who satisfactorily completes a post-secondary
enrollment options course or program under section 124D.09, that
has been approved under paragraph (c), is not required to
complete other requirements of the content standards
corresponding to that specific rigorous course of study.
(c) By August 15, 2002, and each year thereafter, the board
of regents of the University of Minnesota, the board of trustees
of the Minnesota state colleges and universities, and the
governing boards of Minnesota private colleges shall determine
the courses offered at each post-secondary institution under the
post-secondary enrollment options program that meet the
requirements of paragraph (a) and shall notify the commissioner
of those courses offered that meet the requirements. The
commissioner shall make available a listing of the
post-secondary enrollment options courses offered at
post-secondary institutions meeting the requirements of this
section.
(d) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) or (b), a student who
entered ninth grade before the 2001-2002 school year and
satisfactorily completes an advanced placement or international
baccalaureate course, or a post-secondary enrollment options
course under section 124D.09, satisfies the requirements of the
content standards corresponding to that specific rigorous course
of study.
Sec. 7. Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 120B.03, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:
Subd. 5. [STUDENTS HELD HARMLESS; WAIVER.] A local school
board, the school board of the school district in which the area
learning center is located, or a charter school board of
directors may waive any content standard for a student or group
of students who entered ninth grade before the 2000-2001 school
year if the governing board of the school site determines that
the students could not meet the site's content standard due to
circumstances related to implementing the profile of learning
that were beyond the students' control.
Sec. 8. Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 120B.03, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:
Subd. 6. [STUDENT TRANSFERS; OTHER WAIVERS.] A district,
area learning center and charter school must establish processes
by which to transfer as completed:
(1) those content standards that other school sites within
the district or other public schools verify on transcripts as
completed;
(2) the work that educational institutions outside the
state accept for completing the equivalent of content standards
and verify on transcripts as completed; and
(3) a student's opportunities to complete high school
content standards through learning the student acquires outside
the district's curriculum, if the local governing board
determines the work or learning the student completed differs
from the content standards at the school site in which the
student is enrolled and the student is unable to fulfill the
content standards at the enrolling site.
Sec. 9. Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 120B.03, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:
Subd. 7. [COMPLETION OF A CONTENT STANDARD.] Districts,
area learning centers, and charter schools may:
(1) establish more than one content standard in a single
course, consistent with section 120B.02, paragraph (f);
(2) develop a system allowing students to meet a content
standard through different subject areas; and
(3) determine at what grade levels a content standard may
be completed.
Sec. 10. Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 120B.03, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:
Subd. 8. [RECORDS.] A district, area learning center, and
charter school shall maintain records of the following at each
site to submit to the commissioner for audit at the
commissioner's request:
(1) examples of local assessments used to measure students'
completion of a content standard;
(2) aggregate data on students' completion of each high
school content standard;
(3) aggregate data on each year's high school graduates,
including the number of high school content standards completed,
and the level of achievement earned on each standard;
(4) anonymous examples of student work in each high school
content standard; and
(5) the number and identity of available content standards,
the number of required content standards, and the number of
content standards completed by students.
Sec. 11. Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 120B.03, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:
Subd. 9. [SCORING.] The grade level of a student shall not
prohibit a student from receiving the highest state exemplar
score upon completion of a content standard. Teachers may
assign a score of "0" to incomplete student work on a standard.
The assessment of the content standard must be included as part
of the student's grade for a subject or course.
Sec. 12. Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 120B.03, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:
Subd. 10. [HIGH STANDARDS TOOL LIBRARY.] (a) The
commissioner shall maintain a high standards tool library that
offers teachers in each of the content standards at all grade
levels examples of assessment tools to assess students'
achievement of standards, examples of lesson plans, best
practices methods, research on proven methods, and examples of
exemplar work aligned to the content standards.
(b) By June 30, 2000, the commissioner shall have
established a variety of tools described in paragraph (a). The
tool library must be interactive and allow teachers to submit a
variety of tools. In addition to commissioner-approved tools,
the commissioner shall reserve a portion of the tool library for
tools submitted by teachers without the commissioner's review.
Sec. 13. Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 120B.03, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:
Subd. 11. [TECHNOLOGY AND RECORDKEEPING.] (a) The
commissioner shall designate to school districts, area learning
centers, and charter schools software packages for reporting
student performance on the content standards. The commissioner
shall ensure that the designated recordkeeping software is
capable of transferring student records between schools and
school districts and is available to school districts at a
minimal cost. The commissioner shall convene an advisory group
composed of qualified experts and interested stakeholders to
recommend to districts and charter schools recordkeeping
practices under the graduation rule. The commissioner must also
report on technology needs for efficient daily classroom
recordkeeping and accountability reporting.
(b) The commissioner shall notify the education committees
of the legislature that the requirements in paragraph (a) have
been met.
Sec. 14. Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 120B.03, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:
Subd. 12. [EXAMINATION AND EVALUATION PANEL.] The
commissioner shall establish an academic panel to examine,
evaluate, and sustain the rigor of the content standards
contained in the Minnesota graduation rule. The commissioner
shall consider regional representation when selecting members
for the panel. The panel shall be composed of:
(1) two teachers selected by Education Minnesota, one of
which shall have been a teacher of the year, and one with
national board certification;
(2) deans of the colleges of education from the University
of Minnesota, a Minnesota state college, and a Minnesota private
college;
(3) a director of curriculum and instruction;
(4) an assessment practitioner;
(5) a school board member selected by the Minnesota school
boards association; and
(6) an elementary school principal, a middle school
principal, and a high school principal, each selected by the
state organization representing such principals.
In the process of examining, evaluating, and sustaining the
rigor of the state standards, the panel shall consult with
recognized national and international education experts on
academic standards and the independent office of educational
accountability under section 120B.31, subdivision 3. The panel
shall receive and analyze the report from the external review of
the profile of learning standards, procedures, and assessments
now underway through a contract with the department of children,
families, and learning. The external review must evaluate the
quality of the state's standards and assessments as an
integrated educational system. The panel may make
recommendations for refining the profile of learning based on
the external review and must compare and report the rigor of the
state standards and the north star standard by December 15,
2000, to the commissioner. The recommendations may include
changes effected through administrative changes and changes in
statutes or rule. Beginning July 1, 2001, and on every
even-numbered year thereafter, the panel shall submit its
evaluation of the rigor of the state standards and make
recommendations to the commissioner.
Sec. 15. Minnesota Statutes 1999 Supplement, section
120B.30, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
Subdivision 1. [STATEWIDE TESTING.] (a) The commissioner,
with advice from experts with appropriate technical
qualifications and experience and stakeholders, shall include in
the comprehensive assessment system, for each grade level to be
tested, a single statewide norm-referenced or
criterion-referenced test, or a combination of a norm-referenced
and a criterion-referenced test, which shall be highly
correlated aligned with the state's graduation standards and
administered annually to all students in the third, fifth, and
eighth grades. The commissioner shall establish one or more
months during which schools shall administer the tests to
students each school year. Only Minnesota basic skills tests in
reading, mathematics, and writing shall fulfill students' basic
skills testing requirements for a passing state
notation. Notwithstanding Minnesota Rules, part 3501.0050,
subpart 2, at the written request of a parent or guardian, and
with the recommendation of the student's teacher, a district may
offer the test of basic requirements in reading, math, or
writing to an individual student beginning in grade 5. The
student must take the same test on the same date as administered
to students in eighth grade or higher. Third and fifth grade
test results shall be available to districts for diagnostic
purposes affecting student learning and district instruction and
curriculum, and for establishing educational accountability.
The commissioner must disseminate to the public the third and
fifth grade test results upon receiving those results.
(b) In addition, at the secondary level, districts shall
assess student performance in all required learning areas and
selected required standards within each area of the profile of
learning. The testing instruments and testing process shall be
determined by the commissioner. The results shall be aggregated
at the site and district level. The testing shall be
administered beginning in the 1999-2000 school year and
thereafter.
(c) The comprehensive assessment system shall include an
evaluation of commissioner shall report school site and school
district performance student academic achievement levels during
the 1997-1998 school year and thereafter using an established
performance baseline developed from students' test scores under
this section that records, at a minimum, of the current and two
immediately preceding school years. The report shall include
students' unweighted mean test scores in each tested subject, a
second performance baseline that reports, at a minimum, the same
unweighted mean test scores of only those students enrolled in
the school by January 1 of the previous school year, and a third
performance baseline that reports the same unweighted test
scores of all students except those students receiving limited
English proficiency instruction. The evaluation report also
shall record separately, in proximity to the reported
performance baselines levels, the percentages of students who
are eligible to receive a free or reduced price school meal,
demonstrate limited English proficiency, or are eligible to
receive special education services.
(d) In addition to the testing and reporting requirements
under paragraphs (a), (b), and (c), the commissioner shall
include the following components in the statewide educational
accountability and public reporting system:
(1) uniform statewide testing of all third, fifth, eighth,
and post-eighth grade students with that provides exemptions,
only with parent or guardian approval, from the testing
requirement only for those very few students for whom the
student's individual education plan team under sections 125A.05
and 125A.06, determines that the student is incapable of taking
a statewide test, or for a limited English proficiency student
under section 124D.59, subdivision 2, if the student has been in
the United States for fewer than 12 months and for whom special
language barriers exist, such as the student's native language
does not have a written form or the district does not have
access to appropriate interpreter services for the student's
native language;
(2) educational indicators that can be aggregated and
compared across school districts and across time on a statewide
basis, including average daily attendance, high school
graduation rates, and high school drop-out rates by age and
grade level;
(3) students' scores on the American College Test; and
(4) participation in the National Assessment of Educational
Progress so that the state can benchmark its performance against
the nation and other states, and, where possible, against other
countries, and contribute to the national effort to monitor
achievement; and
(5) basic skills and advanced competencies connecting
teaching and learning to high academic standards, assessment,
and transitions to citizenship and employment.
(e) Districts must report exemptions under paragraph (d),
clause (1), to the commissioner consistent with a format
provided by the commissioner.
Sec. 16. Minnesota Statutes 1999 Supplement, section
120B.35, is amended to read:
120B.35 [STUDENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT LEVELS.]
(a) Each school year, a school district must determine if
the student achievement levels at each school site meet
state and local expectations. If student achievement levels at
a school site do not meet state and local expectations for two
out of three consecutive school years, beginning with the
2000-2001 school year, the district must work with the school
site to adopt a plan to raise student achievement levels to meet
state and local expectations. The legislature will determine
state expectations after receiving a recommendation from the
commissioner of children, families, and learning. The
commissioner must submit recommendations to the legislature by
January 15, 2000.
(b) The department, at a district's request, must assist
the district and the school site in developing a plan to improve
student achievement. The plan must include parental involvement
components.
Sec. 17. [BEST PRACTICES NETWORK.]
By June 30, 2000, the commissioner of children, families,
and learning shall establish a best practices network for
learning areas one through ten, and by June 30, 2001, in
learning area 11, under the profile of learning.
Sec. 18. [TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.]
The commissioner of children, families, and learning shall
report to the education committees of the legislature by January
15, 2001, on recommendations regarding graduation standards
rules or realignment of standards for implementing a technical
and vocational education learning area.
Sec. 19. [CONTENT OF EXTERNAL REVIEW.]
The commissioner shall contract with an independent
organization to evaluate the quality of the state's standards as
an integrated educational system. The contractor's report must
include:
(1) an analysis of the content of the state standards;
(2) comparisons and specific recommendations for revision
by benchmarking the state's standards to other states'
standards;
(3) whether the standards are clear, specific, and
measurable, and whether they are understandable by teachers,
parents, and students, and whether the standards are set at an
appropriate level of difficulty for a particular grade level;
and
(4) what changes can strengthen the quality and alignment
of the state's standards.
Sec. 20. [GRADUATION RULE AMENDMENTS.]
Beginning no later than July 1, 2000, the commissioner
shall amend Minnesota Rules, chapter 3501, for state graduation
requirements according to this section using the expedited
process under Minnesota Statutes, section 14.389. In addition
to technical changes and corrections adopted according to
Minnesota Statutes, section 127A.05, subdivision 4, the
commissioner shall:
(1) amend Minnesota Rules, part 3501.0370, subpart 3, to
add to the grading criteria the option of "0" for student work
on an assessment or standard;
(2) delete all references in rule requiring school sites or
school districts to use state or locally developed performance
packages and make all use of all performance packages, including
for purposes of student assessment, optional at the discretion
of the school site or school district;
(3) amend the definition of "performance package" under
Minnesota Rules, part 3501.0320, subpart 2, item E, to make all
use of performance packages optional, consistent with clause
(2); and
(4) amend Minnesota Rules, part 3501.0320, subpart 2, item
F, to define "rubric" to mean the criteria the commissioner sets
and districts must use to measure student work that meets the
specifications of a content standard, consistent with clauses
(2) and (3).
Sec. 21. [REPEALER.]
(a) Minnesota Statutes 1998, sections 120B.03, subdivisions
1, 2, and 3; and 120B.04, are repealed.
(b) Minnesota Rules, parts 3501.0330, subpart 2, item A;
3501.0360; 3501.0370, subparts 1, 2, and 4; 3501.0420, subpart
1, item D, and subpart 4; and 3501.0430, are repealed.
(c) Minnesota Rules part 3501.0330, subpart 7, item B, is
repealed effective July 1, 2001.
Sec. 22. [EFFECTIVE DATE.]
Sections 1 to 21 are effective the day following final
enactment.
Presented to the governor May 19, 2000
Signed by the governor May 25, 2000, 3:50 p.m.
Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes