AB1: Bill Text

The bill provides that if DPI determines there is insufficient data about a school to grade its performance, or that a grade would be inappropriate because the mission of the school is to serve predominantly or exclusively children at risk, pupils with a disability, or pupils who have other special needs, DPI must issue a report card but must grade the school as "satisfactory" or "needs improvement."

Sanctions for schools receiving a "d" or "f"

The bill requires the state superintendent to increase the severity of sanctions imposed upon schools that receive failing grades in two steps: Steps I and II. The sanctions imposed upon public schools, including independent charter schools, differ in some respects from the sanctions imposed upon private schools participating in a PCP.

Step I sanctions

For a public school, or a private school at which at least 20 pupils attending the school are participating in a PCP, that receives a grade of "D" on the third review report of three consecutive review reports, the school must develop goals, implement a reform plan, and comply with the requirements imposed upon Title I focus schools for four consecutive years. The school may choose to comply with an alternative improvement plan approved by the ARB.

For a public school, or a private school at which at least 20 pupils attending the school are participating in a PCP, that receives a grade of "F" on the third review report of three consecutive review reports, the public school must develop goals, implement a reform plan, and comply with the requirements imposed upon Title I priority schools for four consecutive years. The school may choose to comply with an alternative improvement plan approved by the ARB.

A private school subject to Step I sanctions may choose to accept no new pupils under a PCP for two school years or to withdraw entirely from the PCP for four school years and to reapply to the program at the end of the two- or four-year period. If the private school chooses either of these options, the private school must implement the improvement plan to which the school would have been subject had the school not elected to withdraw from the PCP.

Step II sanctions

If the ARB determines that a school subject to Step I sanctions has not made adequate progress towards the improvement goals established under the Step I sanctions, the state superintendent may impose any of the following Step II sanctions:

1. For a public school other than an independent charter school, DPI must publish a request for proposals that directs interested applicants to submit a proposal to convert the public school to an independent charter school. DPI must forward any proposals to the ARB for its review. If the ARB finds a proposal acceptable, the ARB must authorize the conversion of the public school to an independent charter school.

2. For a public school described under item 1, if no proposal is acceptable, the school board must convert the school to a charter school under its authority.

3. For a public school that is an independent charter school, DPI must discontinue payments to the charter school as soon as practicable under the terms of the contract.

4. For a private school, the private school must fulfill any contractual or other requirements with DPI, and DPI must discontinue payments to the private school as soon as practicable. In addition, the private school may not accept any new pupils under a PCP for four school years. The private school may reapply to participate in a PCP after four school years. The private school would be subject to the same requirements imposed upon private schools withdrawing from a PCP under Step I sanctions.

Exiting sanctions

Under the bill, the state superintendent may release a school from sanctions if the ARB determines that the school has either demonstrated measurable progress towards the goals established by the school within four years or is on a trajectory to meet the goals within six years.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Value-Added Research Center

The bill requires VARC to statistically equate achievement data and scores derived from nationally recognized, norm-referenced tests to the scores obtained on standardized examinations adopted or approved by the state superintendent and required to be administered to pupils attending public schools in this state. The purpose of statistically equating the scores is to be able to measure the achievement and growth of pupils attending the school against the achievement and growth of pupils attending schools where the examinations adopted or approved by the state superintendent are administered.

Under the bill, VARC must also provide to the ARB a list of alternative tests determined by VARC to be acceptable for statistical comparison with the examinations adopted or approved by the state superintendent that may be administered by schools instead of the examinations adopted or approved by the state superintendent. Finally, the bill requires VARC to work with the ARB and DPI to review alternative tests proposed for administration by individual schools.

Educational options

This bill directs each school board to annually inform the parent or guardian of each child between the ages of 3 and 18 who resides in the school district of the educational options available for the child.

For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

AB1,1 Section 1. 15.07 (1) (a) 6. of the statutes is created to read:

AB1,6,5 15.07 (1) (a) 6. Members of the academic review board appointed under s. 15.375 (3) shall be nominated as provided in that section, and with the advice of the senate education committee and consent of the senate appointed, to serve for terms prescribed by law.

AB1,2 Section 2. 15.07 (3) (bm) 8. of the statutes is created to read:

AB1,6,8 15.07 (3) (bm) 8. The academic review board shall meet at least 2 times each year.

AB1,3 Section 3. 15.375 (3) of the statutes is created to read:

AB1,6,12 15.375 (3) Academic review board. (a) There is created an academic review board, attached to the department of public instruction under s. 15.03, consisting of the following members appointed as specified for staggered 4-year terms:

AB1,6,13 1. The state superintendent or his or her designee.

AB1,6,14 2. One principal of a public school, nominated by the state superintendent.

AB1,7,2 3. One representative of a college or university in the University of Wisconsin System, nominated by the state superintendent.

AB1,7,5 4. One individual employed as instructional staff, as defined in s. 118.40 (2r) (a), by a charter school established under s. 118.40 (2r), nominated by the state superintendent.

AB1,7,8 5. One administrator, as defined in s. 115.39 (1) (a), of a private school participating in a parental choice program, as defined in s. 115.39 (1) (d), nominated by the state superintendent.

AB1,7,10 6. One teacher employed by a private school, participating in a parental choice program under s. 118.60 or 119.23, nominated by the state superintendent.

AB1,7,12 7. One representative of a technical college located in this state, nominated by the state superintendent.

AB1,7,14 8. One representative of a private college or university in this state, nominated by the governor.

AB1,7,15 9. One individual nominated by the governor.

AB1,7,17 10. One principal of a charter school established under s. 118.40 (2r), nominated by the minority leader of the assembly.

AB1,7,18 11. One individual nominated by the speaker of the assembly.

AB1,7,20 12. One teacher employed by a school district, nominated by the senate minority leader.

AB1,7,21 13. One individual nominated by the senate majority leader.

AB1,7,23 (b) The academic review board may appoint nonvoting members to serve on the board in an advisory capacity.

AB1,4 Section 4. 20.005 (3) (schedule) of the statutes: at the appropriate place, insert the following amounts for the purposes indicated: - See PDF for table

AB1,5 Section 5. 20.255 (1) (fm) of the statutes is created to read:

AB1,8,4 20.255 (1) (fm) Value-Added Research Center. The amounts in the schedule to pay the costs of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Value-Added Research Center under s. 115.39 (4) (e).

AB1,6 Section 6. 115.28 (61) of the statutes is created to read:

AB1,8,10 115.28 (61) Educational options. Annually, in January, inform the parent or guardian of each child who is at least 3 years old but not yet 18 years old who resides in the school district of the educational options available to the child, including public schools, private schools participating in a parental choice program, charter schools, full-time open enrollment, youth options, and course options.

AB1,7 Section 7. 115.28 (62) of the statutes is created to read:

AB1,8,13 115.28 (62) Alternative tests. Publish on the department's Internet site a list of alternative tests approved by the academic review board under s. 115.39 (9) (a) 6.

AB1,8 Section 8. 115.385 (3) of the statutes is created to read:

AB1,8,15 115.385 (3) This section does not apply after September 30, 2017.

AB1,9 Section 9. 115.39 of the statutes is created to read:

AB1,8,17 115.39 School review system. (1) Definitions. In this section:

AB1,8,20 (a) "Administrator" means the superintendent, supervising principal, executive director, or other person who acts as the administrative head of a private school participating in a parental choice program.

AB1,9,1 (b) "Child at risk" has the meaning given in s. 118.153 (1) (a).

AB1,9,4 (c) "Focus school" means a Title I public school identified as a focus school by the department or by the school district as eligible to receive funding under 20 USC 6303 (g) for the purpose of developing and implementing a school reform plan.

AB1,9,5 (d) "Parental choice program" means the program under s. 118.60 or 119.23.

AB1,9,8 (e) "Priority school" means a Title I public school identified as a priority school by the department or by the school district as eligible to receive funding under 20 USC 6303 (g) for the purpose of implementing rigorous interventions in the school.

AB1,9,10 (f) "Research center" means the University of Wisconsin-Madison Value-Added Research Center.

AB1,9,11 (g) "Review board" means the academic review board.

AB1,9,13 (h) "School" means a public school, including a charter school, and a private school participating in a parental choice program.

AB1,9,15 (i) "Title I" means Title I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

AB1,9,20 (2) Review system; evaluation and grades. No later than 24 months after the effective date of this subsection .... [LRB inserts date], the review board shall establish, by rule, a comprehensive school review system to be implemented by the department beginning in the 2017-18 school year. The review board shall include all of the following components in the review system:

AB1,9,23 (a) 1. Subject to subds. 2. and 3., multiple measures to determine a school's performance, including all of the following categorized by English language proficiency, disability, income level, and race or ethnicity:

AB1,9,24 a. Pupil achievement in reading and mathematics.

AB1,10,2 b. Growth in pupil achievement in reading and mathematics, calculated using a value-added methodology that includes demographic controls.

AB1,10,4 c. Gap closure in growth in pupil achievement in reading and mathematics and, when available, in graduation rates.

AB1,10,7 d. Rates of attendance or of high school graduation. The measure under this subd. 1. d. shall include a measure of improvement in addition to a measure of attainment.

AB1,10,13 2. Beginning 4 years after the effective date of this subdivision .... [LRB inserts date], and once every 2 years thereafter, the review board shall review the measures under subd. 1. to determine whether the measures sufficiently and accurately reflect the performance of a school. The review board shall prepare and furnish to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, the senate majority leader, and the department a report summarizing the findings under this subdivision.

AB1,10,15 3. The department shall determine the appropriate weight to be given each of the measures under this paragraph for the grades under par. (c).

AB1,10,17 (b) Measures to ensure that all applicable data elements collected and calculations performed are done consistently and in a uniform manner for all schools.

AB1,10,19 (c) A grading system to rate a school's level of performance. The department shall use the following grading system consisting of a letter grade:

AB1,10,20 1. "A".

AB1,10,21 2. "B".

AB1,10,22 3. "C".

AB1,10,23 4. "D".

AB1,10,24 5. "F".

AB1,10,25 (3) Review report. The department shall do all of the following:

AB1,11,9 (a) Beginning with data collected from the 2015-16 school year for a public school other than a charter school established under s. 118.40 (2r), and with data collected from the 2016-17 school year for a private school participating in a parental choice program and a charter school established under s. 118.40 (2r), except as provided in sub. (5) (c), annually grade the performance of each school using the grading system under sub. (2) (c) and issue a review report for the school that is clear and easily understandable. Except with regard to pupil achievement and attendance and high school graduation status, the department shall base the grade issued for each school year on data derived from the preceding school year.

AB1,11,12 (b) Collect and disseminate the best practices from schools, except that the department may not collect information for this purpose from a private school participating in a parental choice program without the private school's consent.

AB1,11,15 (c) On the review report for a private school participating in a parental choice program, specify the percentage of pupils attending the private school under a parental choice program and comply with one of the following:

AB1,11,18 1. For a private school that submits achievement data only for those pupils attending the private school under the parental choice program, identify the grade derived from data about those pupils as a choice pupil grade.

AB1,12,3 2. Notwithstanding sub. (5) (b), for a private school that submits achievement data under sub. (4) (a) or (e) for those pupils attending the private school under the parental choice program and for all other pupils attending the private school, identify the grade derived from data about pupils attending the school under a parental choice program as a choice pupil grade. The department shall also identify a 2nd grade, derived from data about all pupils attending the private school including pupils attending the private school under the parental choice program, as the private school grade. The department may use only the choice pupil grade identified under this subdivision in determining when a sanction may be imposed under this section.

AB1,12,5 (d) Include a data component in a school review report for a school year only if the component includes data from at least 20 pupils in that school year.

AB1,12,8 (e) At least 30 days before issuing a review report for a school under this section, provide the school an opportunity to review a preliminary version of the report and correct errors.

AB1,12,9 (f) Annually provide the review board with a copy of the review report.

AB1,12,12 (4) Data used to evaluate school performance. Subject to sub. (5) (b), the department may use only the following information for each measure specified in sub. (2) (a):