AB 921

Under current law, school districts, independent charter schools, and the

private schools that participate in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP)

are required to administer statewide examinations to pupils enrolled in the fourth,

eighth, and tenth grades. Beginning in the 2011-12 school year, this bill eliminates

the tenth grade exam and substitutes an 11th grade exam. Under the bill, the 11th

grade exam must consist of two parts, the standardized test for high school

achievement and college admissions produced by ACT, Inc., and a supplement

developed by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), aligned to the state

academic standards.

The bill provides that the private schools that participate in the MPCP are

exempt from the requirement to administer the fourth, eighth, and tenth or eleventh

grade exams until DPI adopts or approves substantially redesigned exams. Instead,

these private schools must administer nationally normed standardized

examinations to their pupils.

Beginning in the 2011-12 school year, this bill requires school districts,

independent charter schools, and the MPCP schools to administer benchmark

examinations in language arts, mathematics, and science at least twice each school

year to pupils enrolled in grades three to ten.

Beginning in the 2012-13 school year, the bill requires school districts to use

value-added modeling to measure pupil academic progress. The bill directs DPI to

define "value-added modeling" by rule. In general, the term is used to refer to a

collection of statistical techniques that uses pupil test score data to estimate the

effects of individual schools or teachers.

The bill directs DPI, by September 1, 2011, and decennially thereafter, to

update the pupil academic standards and the performance levels for the statewide

examinations. The bill directs DPI and the governor to jointly ensure that the

performance levels are aligned with international performance levels.

Finally, the bill requires that the results of any standardized examination

administered to a pupil under state law or under the federal No Child Left Behind

Act be available to the pupil's parent or guardian within six weeks of the exam's

administration.