SENATE BILL 297

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2014

INTRODUCED BY

Linda M. Lopez

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; PROVIDING FOR IMPROVED INTERVENTION AND REMEDIATION PRACTICES FOR KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE EIGHT AND TOP TO BOTTOM ACCOUNTABILITY; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

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

     SECTION 1. Section 22-2C-6 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1986, Chapter 33, Section 7, as amended) is repealed and a new Section 22-2C-6 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

     "22-2C-6. [NEW MATERIAL] GRADE PROMOTIONS--INTERVENTION AND REMEDIATION--RETENTION POLICIES--ACCOUNTABILITY.--

          A. As used in this section:

                (1) "academic improvement plan" means a written document developed by the student assistance team that describes the specific content standards required for a certain grade level that a student has not achieved; prescribes specific intervention and remediation that have demonstrated effectiveness; and, for students whose home language is not English, incorporates appropriate instructional practices;

                (2) "educational plan for student success" means a student-centered tool that is developed to define the role of the academic improvement plan within the public school and the school district, that addresses methods to improve student learning and success in school and that identifies specific measures of a student's progress;

                (3) "formative assessments" means assessments that provide information to be used as feedback to adapt teaching to the student's learning needs;

                (4) "grade-level proficiency" means a score on a school-district-approved standards-based assessment that is comparable among school districts statewide;

                (5) "intensive targeted instruction" means extra instruction provided either to small groups or to individuals that shall be no less than thirty minutes per day and three days per week and that is taught by a teacher or tutor who is not the student's classroom teacher;

                (6) "intervention" means targeted instructional practice with an intervention teacher for individual students or a small group of students, including students whose home language is not English, aligned with the results of a valid and reliable assessment and, if applicable, response to intervention as defined in Section 22-13-6 NMSA 1978 and department rule;

                (7) "intervention teacher" means a licensed or certified teacher who:

                     (a) has the expertise to determine a student's instructional level in reading or mathematics;

                     (b) has the expertise to help a student work toward a higher level of proficiency in reading or mathematics; and

                     (c) is not the student's classroom teacher;

                (8) "mathematics screening assessment" means a school-district-adopted, department-approved formative assessment that measures content, operations, applications, problem-solving and consumer skills, as appropriate for the grade level;

                (9) "parent" includes a guardian or other person having custody or control of a school-age person;

                (10) "parent involvement" means a parent helping to implement an academic improvement plan by:

                     (a) attending and participating in student assistance team meetings;

                     (b) using specific strategies explained by the student assistance team to help the parent's student reach grade-level proficiency;

                     (c) attending a school presentation that delivers details about or training on the specific strategies or observing an intensive targeted instruction of the parent's student; or

                     (d) contributing to the student's progress toward grade-level proficiency in a manner in which the parent is capable and as determined by the school or school district;

                (11) "reading screening assessment" means a school-district-adopted, department-approved formative assessment that measures the acquisition of reading skills, including phonological awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and oral language, as appropriate for the grade level;

                (12) "remediation" includes summer school, extended-day or -week programs, tutoring, progress-based monitoring or other research-based methods for improvement of student proficiency, as provided by trained personnel;

                (13) "school" includes a charter school;

                (14) "school district" includes a school district and a charter school;

                (15) "small group" consists of no more than eight students;

                (16) "student assistance team" means a group consisting of a student's:

                     (a) teacher;

                     (b) school counselor;

                     (c) school administrator;

                     (d) parent; and

                     (e) if the student or parent wishes, a representative of the student chosen by the student or parent; and

                (17) "valid and reliable assessments" means assessments that:

                     (a) are appropriate to targeted populations, including students whose home language is not English;

                     (b) provide predictive values; and

                     (c) are thoroughly tested, peer-reviewed and accepted by authorities and practitioners in the field.

          B. School districts shall approve, and, in the absence of legislative appropriations, the department shall bear the cost, of intervention and remediation that have demonstrated effectiveness to provide assistance to students in kindergarten through eighth grade who do not demonstrate grade-level proficiency in reading or mathematics as provided in this section.

          C. Beginning in the 2014-2015 school year:

                (1) kindergarten through eighth grade intervention and remediation, as defined in the educational plan for student success, and retention and promotion policies shall be aligned with valid and reliable assessment results and shall be aligned with state standards;

                (2) within the first three weeks of the school year, each student in kindergarten through eighth grade shall be evaluated with a reading screening assessment and a mathematics screening assessment;

                (3) if the reading screening assessment or mathematics screening assessment results indicate that a student is not proficient in reading or mathematics, the school shall immediately implement intervention or remediation to help the student progress toward grade-level proficiency; and

                (4) if the student does not progress toward grade-level proficiency after intervention or remediation, as measured by continuous formative assessments, by the end of the first grading period of the school year, a parent shall be notified in writing that the parent's student has not achieved grade-level proficiency in reading or mathematics and a student assistance team shall meet to discuss and adopt an academic improvement plan, which shall be implemented immediately following the student assistance team meeting. At the student assistance team meeting, the parent shall be presented with and receive an explanation of:

                     (a) the student's specific reading or mathematics deficiencies;

                     (b) academic expectations for the student;

                     (c) academic measurements to be taken;

                     (d) an academic improvement plan;

                     (e) time lines for implementing the academic improvement plan;

                     (f) whether intensive targeted instruction or any other intervention may be used; and

                     (g) parent involvement expectations and opportunities.

          D. At the end of kindergarten and each grade through eighth grade, promotion and retention decisions for each student shall be based upon a determination that the student:

                (1) has achieved grade-level proficiency in reading or mathematics and shall be promoted to the next higher grade;

                (2) has not achieved grade-level proficiency in reading or mathematics and shall participate in intervention or remediation, as recommended by a student assistance team; upon certification by the school district that the student has achieved grade-level proficiency, the student shall enter the next higher grade;

                (3) has not achieved grade-level proficiency in reading or mathematics after intervention or remediation and shall be:

                     (a) retained in the same grade for no more than one school year with the agreement of a parent and an academic improvement plan that is developed by the student assistance team to achieve grade-level proficiency; or

                     (b) promoted to the next grade if a parent signs a refusal of retention notice; a student promoted pursuant to this subparagraph shall begin the next higher grade with an academic improvement plan developed by the student assistance team to achieve grade-level proficiency; or

                (4) has a disability and a corresponding individual educational plan, in which case retention and promotion decisions shall be made by a student assistance team in accordance with the provisions of an individual educational plan and not pursuant to this subsection or Subsection E of this section.

          E. For students who do not demonstrate grade-level proficiency in reading or mathematics for two successive school years:

                (1) a student who has been retained for one school year shall be promoted to and begin the next higher grade with an academic improvement plan developed by the student assistance team to achieve grade-level proficiency; and

                (2) a student who has not been retained for one school year shall be retained for no more than one school year with an academic improvement plan developed by the student assistance team to achieve grade-level proficiency.

          F. A student shall not be retained in the same grade pursuant to this section if the student:

                (1) demonstrates grade-level proficiency with a portfolio of the student's work compiled by the student's teacher or student assistance team;

                (2) shows sufficient progress toward grade-level proficiency as determined by the student assistance team;

                (3) scores at least at the fiftieth percentile on a school district-approved norm-referenced assessment or at a proficient level on an alternative school district-approved criterion-referenced assessment; or

                (4) is an English language learner who is proficient in a language other than English on a valid and reliable reading assessment in that language or who has had less than two years of instruction in English.

          G. The cost of summer school and extended day intervention and remediation offered in grades nine through twelve shall be borne by the parents; however, in cases in which parents are determined to be indigent according to guidelines established by the department, the school district shall bear those costs.

          H. By the end of each school year, each school shall report to the school district, by June 15 of each year, each school district or state-chartered charter school shall report to the department and by July 31 of each year, the department shall report to the legislative education study committee:

                (1) the number of students who participated in intervention or remediation following a reading screening assessment;

                (2) the number of students who participated in intervention or remediation following a mathematics screening assessment;

                (3) the number of students who received an academic improvement plan for reading only;

                (4) the number of students who received an academic improvement plan for mathematics only;

                (5) the number of students who received an academic improvement plan for reading and mathematics;

                (6) the number of students recommended for retention in each grade;

                (7) the number of students retained in each grade; and

                (8) any other information requested by the legislative education study committee."

     SECTION 2. APPROPRIATION.--Seventy-five million two hundred thirty-one thousand dollars ($75,231,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the state equalization guarantee distribution of the public school fund for expenditure in fiscal year 2015 to fund reading and mathematics intervention teachers for students in kindergarten through grade eight who are in need of intervention. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2015 shall revert to the general fund.

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