HOUSE BILL 70

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2010

INTRODUCED BY

Rick Miera

FOR THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE

AN ACT

RELATING TO EDUCATION; PROVIDING FOR AN EDUCATIONAL DATA SYSTEM THAT SERVES PRE-KINDERGARTEN THROUGH POST-GRADUATE EDUCATION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     Section 1. EDUCATIONAL DATA SYSTEM.--

          A. As used in this section:

                (1) "council" means the data system council;

                (2) "data system" means the unified pre- kindergarten through post-graduate education accountability data system;

                (3) "data system partners" means the public education department and the higher education department;

                (4) "educational agencies" means other public agencies and institutions that provide educational services for resident school-age persons and children in state-funded private pre-kindergarten programs; and

                (5) "pre-kindergarten through post-graduate system" means an integrated, seamless pre-kindergarten through post-graduate system of education. 

          B. The data system partners, in consultation with the council, shall establish a data system, the purpose of which is to:

                (1) collect, integrate and report longitudinal student-level and educator data required to implement federally or state-required education performance accountability measures;

                (2) conduct research and evaluation regarding federal, state and local education and training programs at all levels; and

                (3) audit and ensure compliance of those programs with applicable federal or state requirements.

          C. The components of the data system shall include the use of a common student identifier for the pre-kindergarten through post-graduate system and an educator identifier, both of which may include additional identifiers, with the ability to match educator data to student data and educator data to data from schools, post-secondary education programs and other educational agencies.

          D. The data system partners shall convene a "data system council" made up of the following members:

                (1) the secretary of public education or the secretary's designee;

                (2) the secretary of higher education or the secretary's designee;

                (3) the secretary of children, youth and families or the secretary's designee;

                (4) the secretary of workforce solutions or the secretary's designee;

                (5) the secretary of economic development or the secretary's designee;

                (6) the secretary of information technology or the secretary's designee;

                (7) the secretary of human services or the secretary's designee;

                (8) the secretary of health or the secretary's designee;

                (9) the director of the office of education accountability or the director's designee;

                (10) a representative from the office of the governor;

                (11) the presidents or their designees of one research university, one four-year comprehensive university, two branch colleges and two independent community colleges; provided that the presidents shall be selected by the data system partners in collaboration with organizations that represent the presidents of those institutions;

                (12) at least six public school superintendents or their designees; provided that the appointments by the data system partners shall be made so that small, medium and large school districts are equally represented on the council at all times;

                (13) at least three charter school administrators or their designees appointed by the data system partners;

                (14) the director of the legislative education study committee or the director's designee; and

                (15) the director of the legislative finance committee or the director's designee.

          E. The council shall:

                (1) meet at least four times each calendar year;

                (2) create a management plan that assigns authority and responsibility for the operation of the data system among the educational agencies whose data will be included in the data system;

                (3) assist the educational agencies whose data will be included in the data system in developing interagency agreements to:

                     (a) enable data to be shared across and between the educational agencies;

                     (b) define appropriate uses of data;

                     (c) assure researcher access to data;

                     (d) assure the security of the data system; and

                     (e) ensure that the educational system agencies represented on the council, the legislative education study committee, the legislative finance committee and other users, as appropriate, have access to the data system;

                (4) develop a strategic plan for the data system; and

                (5) create policies that ensure users have prompt and reasonable access to reports generated from the data system, including:

                     (a) identification of categories of data system users based on security level;

                     (b) descriptions of the reports that the data system is capable of generating on demand; and

                     (c) definitions of the most timely process by which users may retrieve other reports without compromising the security of the data system or the privacy of any person whose personally identifiable information is contained in the data system.

          F. The data system strategic plan shall include:

                (1) the development of policy and practical goals, including time lines and budget goals, that are to be met through the implementation of the data system; and

                (2) the training and professional development that the data system partners will provide to policymakers, pre-kindergarten through post-secondary staff and other users who will be accessing or entering data into the data system.

          G. The confidentiality of personally identifiable student and educator data shall be safeguarded consistent with the requirements of state and federal law. To the extent permitted by law, public entities participating in the data system may:

                (1) disclose or redisclose data for educational purposes and longitudinal comparisons, analyses or studies, including those authorized by law;

                (2) enter into agreements with other organizations for research studies to improve instruction for the benefit of local educational agencies, public schools and post-secondary educational institutions, subject to safeguards to ensure that the research organization uses the student records only for the authorized study purposes; and

                (3) disclose education records to a student's former secondary school or school district upon request solely for purposes of evaluation or accountability for its programs.

          H. Nothing in this section precludes the data system partners, in consultation with school districts, charter schools and public post-secondary educational institutions, from collecting and distributing aggregate data about students or educators or data about an individual student or educator without personally identifiable information.

          I. The data system partners, in consultation with school districts, charter schools and public post-secondary educational institutions, shall jointly promulgate rules to carry out the provisions of this section, including security administration requirements and the provision of training for data entry personnel at all levels.

          J. By December 31 of each year, the data system partners shall submit a data system status report to the legislature and to the governor. Prior to submission of the report and its publication, the data system partners shall distribute a draft of the report to school districts, charter schools and all public post-secondary educational institutions to allow comment on the draft report.

          K. The data system partners, in consultation with school districts, charter schools and public post-secondary educational institutions, shall develop and adopt the content and a format for the report, including the ability of the data system to:

                (1) connect student records from pre-

kindergarten through post-graduate education;

                (2) connect public school educator data to student data;

                (3) match individual public school students' test records from year to year to measure academic growth, including student-level college and career readiness test scores;

                (4) report the number and percentage of untested public school students by school district and by school and by major ethnic group, special education status, poverty status and gender;

                (5) report high school longitudinal graduation and dropout data, including information that distinguishes between dropouts or students whose whereabouts are unknown and students who have transferred to other schools, including private schools or home schools, other school districts or other states;

                (6) provide post-secondary remediation data, including assessment scores on exams used to determine the need for remediation;

                (7) provide post-secondary remedial course enrollment history, including the number and type of credit and noncredit remedial courses being taken;

                (8) report post-secondary retention data that indicate whether students are returning the second fall term after being enrolled as full-time first-time degree-seeking students;

                (9) report to New Mexico public high schools on their students who enroll in a public post-secondary educational institution within three years of graduating or leaving the high school regarding freshman-year outcomes;

                (10) provide post-secondary student completion status, including information that indicates if students are making annual progress toward their degrees;

                (11) include data regarding students who have earned a general educational development certificate in reporting post-secondary outcomes;

                (12) report data collected for the educator accountability reporting system;

                (13) report pre-kindergarten through post-graduate student-level enrollment data, demographic information and program participation information;

                (14) report pre-kindergarten through post-graduate student-level transcript information, including information on courses completed, grades earned and cumulative grade point average;

                (15) connect performance with financial information at all levels;

                (16) establish and maintain a state data audit system to assess the quality, validity and reliability of data; and

                (17) provide any other student-level and educator data necessary to assess the performance of the pre-kindergarten through post-graduate system.

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