Chapter 204
2009 -- S 0728
Enacted 11/09/09
A N A C T
RELATING TO
EDUCATION
Introduced By: Senators Pichardo, Jabour, Metts, and Gallo
Date Introduced: February 26, 2009
It is enacted by the
General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Title 16 of the General Laws entitled
"EDUCATION" is hereby amended
by adding thereto the following chapter:
CHAPTER
90
HIGH
SCHOOL OUTCOMES IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2009
16-90-1.
Short title. – This act shall be known and may
be cited as the “High School
Outcomes Improvement Act of
2009.”
16-90-2.
Findings of fact. – The general assembly makes
the following findings of fact:.
(1) The high schools
of the state of
students for college and work in the 21st century. The high
school outcomes improvement act
recognizes that high school success is more important than ever
for the health of our economy,
for civic life, and to ensure equal opportunity. It is of
critical importance to the success of our
public high schools to prepare all students for college and
work in the 21st century.
(2) Without accurate
data on graduation rates it is extremely difficult to evaluate the
efficacy of the state’s system of public education. Better
information can lead to better policies
and program implementation.
(3) Parents and
community members, who are critical to ensuring strong educational
accountability, are hampered in their efforts to improve our schools
if they do not have accurate
data.
(4) It is of critical
importance that accurate data be collected, maintained, analyzed and
publicly reported by our state’s education system with respect
to high school student graduation
rates.
(5) In the state of
when graduation rates are broken down by racial and ethnic
group, by students with disabilities
compared to their non-disabled peers, by English language
learners and by socio-economically
disadvantaged students compared to non-disadvantaged peers, that
many of these sub-groups are
experiencing particularly low rates of high school graduation.
(6) Ultimately, the
state of
student-unit-record data system, with unique student identifiers that can
track students through
the state’s education system from kindergarten through
post-secondary education.
(7) The state must
commit to developing and maintaining a data and public reporting
system that accurately accounts for all students when
calculating high school graduation rates and
informs the public of progress toward the goal of universal
high school graduation.
16-90-3.
Purpose. – The purpose of this chapter is to
initiate a process by which the state
may achieve the goal of collecting, maintaining,
analyzing and reporting of data relating to the
graduation rates of the students in our public high schools as
an essential step in addressing gaps
in educational achievement among our diverse student
population.
16-90-4.
Definitions. – The following words and
phrases used in this chapter shall have
the following meanings unless the context clearly
indicates otherwise:
(1) “High School
Graduation Rate” is defined as the percentage of the “four (4) year
adjusted cohort” who attended high school in the school
district, and earned a regular high school
diploma “on time” as calculated using the “graduation rate
formula.”
(2) “Graduation Rate
Formula” defines the formula for calculating the graduation rate as
the number of students who earned an “on time” diploma
divided by the number of students who
formed the four (4) year adjusted cohort for that graduation
class. It may be expressed as follows:
Graduation rate= (On time graduates in year x) divided
by (the number of students who entered
grade 9 together in year x-4) + (transfers) – (transfers
out and deceased).
(3) “On Time” means
that students who earned a regular high school diploma from the
district at the conclusion of their fourth (4th) year or
before. This may include graduates who
earned their diploma during a senior summer session in those
districts offering summer sessions
for seniors.
(4) “Four-Year
Adjusted Cohort” is defined as the students who entered grade 9 together;
and, any students that transferred into the district in
grade 10 through 12. Students that the district
can confirm have either transferred out of the district,
or are deceased, are removed from the
cohort. All other students, including those retained in
grade, those who enroll in a GED program,
or take leave of school for any other reason, are not
counted as transfers and remain in the “four-
year adjusted cohort.” Students who are retained in grade,
or take leave of school and return are
counted only once as part of their initial “four-year
adjusted cohort.”
(5) “Transfers In”
are students who entered any high school after the beginning of the
entering cohort’s first year in high school in the district up
to and including grade 12.
(6) “Transfers Out”
are students the district can confirm with supporting documentation
as having transferred out of the district to enroll in
another high school outside the district, or
other educational program for which they are expected to
receive a regular high school diploma.
Confirmation of transfer to another school/program
shall be in the form of formal, written
documentation that the student enrolled in the receiving school.
“Transfers Out” does not include
students enrolled in a GED or other alternative educational
program that does not issue or provide
credits toward the issuance of a regular high school diploma.
(7) “Board of
Regents” means the state board of regents for elementary and secondary
education established in chapter 16-60.
16-90-5.
Implementation. – (a) Duties and
responsibilities imposed by the statute with
respect to the state’s adoption, public reporting and
implementation, with respect to the public
high schools in the state, of a standard four (4) year
adjusted cohort graduation rate using the
defined formula.
(1) Within ninety
(90) days of the effective date of this act, the board of regents, in
conjunction with each local school board, district, or agency,
shall adopt and implement a
standard four (4) year adjusted cohort graduation rate
definition and data collection protocol
using the graduation rate formula as defined in this
chapter.
(2) Students who
enroll in a GED or any other alternative educational program that does
not issue or provide credits toward the issuance of a
regular high school diploma are not
“transfers out” and remain in
the cohort for the purpose of graduation rate calculations described
in this chapter.
(3) The board of
regents, in conjunction with each local school board, district, or agency
shall develop and retain capacity for collection, analysis,
and public reporting of public high
school graduation rate data. Graduation rates shall be
calculated and publicly reported for each
school, school district and for the state. Graduation rates
shall be calculated and publicly reported
in the aggregate and disaggregated by the major racial
and ethnic groups, for students with
disabilities, for English language learners, for
socio-economically disadvantaged students, and for
non-socio-economically disadvantaged students.
(4) The state’s
education system, in conjunction with local school with school districts, is
encouraged to develop and implement one or more complementary
indicators to enhance the
state’s ability to measure and report different forms of high
school completion, including: five (5)
and six (6) year graduation rates; dropout rates;
retention rates; completion rates; and college-
ready graduation rates. The board of regents shall develop
consistent definitions to ensure that
these measures are reported in comparable ways across
schools and districts within the state.
These additional indicators will not replace or be
presented or treated as an alternative to the
graduation rate delineated in this chapter.
(5) Nothing in this
chapter should be construed as limiting the reporting on a variety of
other indices of school completion such as dropout rates,
five (5) and six (6) year graduation
rates, and other school completion rates recommended for
development in this chapter.
(6) The board of
regents shall take the necessary steps to inculcate in the overall mission
of the state’s education system, the importance of
collecting, maintaining, analyzing, and publicly
reporting at the state and district level, accurate and
disaggregated data on the graduation rates of
public high schools at the district and school level. These steps
include, but are not limited to,
mandatory training for all school district administrators,
registrars and other school-and district-
based personnel with responsibility for collecting and
maintaining data on cohorts and graduation
rates. In addition, the board of regents shall implement a
system for verifying the accuracy of
locally reported graduation-rate data that shall include
statistical checks and analyses along with
on-site audits of record-keeping procedures to ensure that
schools and districts adhere to state
standards and guidelines.
(7) The board of
regents shall take the necessary steps to educate the public as to the need
for the state’s education system to be able to collect,
maintain, analyze, and report publicly,
accurate data on the graduation rates of public high schools
and school districts. Such steps shall
include, but not be limited to, outreach to civic
associations, community based groups, and
parents organizations to educate them about the need for
accurate graduation rates, to inform
them of the reporting and assistance to be implemented by
the state, and to solicit suggestions and
community support.
(8) The board of
regents shall collaborate with local governments in the process of
adopting and implementing the public high school graduation
rate required by this section. This
collaboration shall include the calculation and public reporting of
an interim graduation rate until
such time as the state and local governments have all the
data required to fully implement the
cohort graduation rate definition mandated by this chapter.
This interim graduation rate shall be
the ratio of diploma recipients in the given year to
ninth (9th) grade enrollment four (4) years
prior.
(9) The interim graduation
rate mandated in this chapter shall be used as the additional
high school indicator for the purposes of determining a
high school’s adequate yearly progress
status under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 until such
time as the cohort graduation rate,
mandated by this chapter is implemented upon implementation of
the cohort graduation rate. This
rate shall be used as the additional high school indicator
for the purposes of determining a high
school’s adequate yearly progress status under the No Child
Left Behind Act of 2001.
(b) This chapter
applies only to graduation rate data for students who attend public high
schools in
16-90-6.
Reporting Requirements. – (a) Within ninety (90) days of the effective date of
this statute, the board of regents shall submit a report
to the governor and the general assembly on
the implementation of the adoption and implementation of
the four (4) year cohort graduation rate
formula. The report shall describe the interim measures the
state is taking. The report should also
detail each category, code and the corresponding definitions
that the state has authorized for
identifying, tracking, calculating and publicly reporting
transfers out. This report shall be released
to the public and posted on the state education
department’s publicly accessible web page
contemporaneous with submission to the governor and the general
assembly.
(b) On or before
November 1st of each year, the board of regents shall submit a report to
the governor and the general assembly on its efforts to
collect, maintain, analyze, and publicly
report high school graduation rates, and how the steps taken
by that system comply with other
appropriate provisions of this section. This report shall
describe the statistical analyses and data
verification activities undertaken by the state to confirm the
accuracy of reported graduation rates,
and shall detail any discrepancies identified. This
report shall be released to the public and posted
on the state education department’s publicly accessible
web page contemporaneous with
submission to the governor and legislature.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC01566
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