RELATES TO: KRS 158.150, 158.6451, 158.6453, 158.6455
NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY: KRS 158.6453(3)(a) and KRS 158.6455(2)(a) require the Kentucky Board of Education to promulgate
administrative regulations to create and implement a balanced statewide
assessment and accountability program that measures the achievement of
students, schools, and districts; complies with the federal Every Student
Succeeds Act of 2015, 20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.; and ensures accountability. This
administrative regulation establishes administrative procedures and guidelines
for Kentucky's assessment and accountability program.
Section 1. Definitions.
(1) "A1" means a school that is:
(a) Under administrative control of a
principal and eligible to establish a school-based decision-making council;
and
(b) Not an alternative
education program operated by, or as a part of, another school.
(2) "Alternative education
program" is defined by KRS 160.380(1)(b).
(3) "Full Academic Year" means 100 or more
instructional days of enrollment within the school year.
Section 2. Assigning Students for School and
District Accountability.
(1)
(a) A student enrolled in an A1 school for a
full academic year shall be counted in the accountability membership of the A1
school and shall be attributed to the A1 school for accountability purposes.
This shall include state agency children or other students who have been
enrolled in an A1 school by any authority.
(b) A student qualifying as an early graduate
based on criteria established in
704 KAR 3:305 shall be included in the
school's accountability calculation in the year in which the student graduates,
whether or not the student has a full academic year of enrollment.
(2) A student enrolled in an A1
school and attending an alternative education program during the year as a
result of local school district policies or procedures shall be counted in the
accountability membership of the A1 school and shall be attributed to the A1
school for accountability purposes if the student's combined enrollment in the
A1 school and alternative education program is a full academic year.
(3) A student enrolled in an alternative
education program for a full academic year as a result of local school district
policies or procedures without any enrollment in an A1 school during the same
year shall be attributed to the accountability of the district that the student
would have attended if not enrolled in the alternative education
program.
(4) A student not enrolled
in any A1 school or an alternative education program for a full academic year,
but enrolled in a district for a full academic year, shall be assigned to the
district for accountability purposes.
(5) The Department of Education shall monitor
alternative school placements. If evidence indicates a district is
inappropriately placing students into alternative programs to avoid inclusion
in accountability, the district shall be further investigated by the Department
of Education.
Section 3.
Assigning Students for State Accountability.
(1) Students enrolled in alternative
education programs, and not attributed to an A1 school or district, shall be
aggregated into a state level accountability report.
(2) If a student, before completing a full
academic year in a school or district as established in Section 2 of this
administrative regulation, is enrolled in an alternative education program by a
court, a governmental agency other than a Kentucky public school, or Kentucky
school district, the student shall be accountable to the state.
Section 4. Inclusion of Schools in
Accountability.
(1) All A1 schools shall
receive annual accountability classifications as established in
703 KAR 5:270,
for the state's assessment and accountability system.
(2)
(a) For
reporting purposes, all alternative education programs shall receive annual
accountability reports based on tested students.
(b) Reports for alternative education
programs shall be separate from the A1 school accountability
reporting.
(c) The alternative
education program reports shall state the unique features and characteristics
of the alternative education program and the appropriate uses and limitations
of the data.
Section
5. Standard Grade Configuration for Accountability.
(1) Accountable grade level configurations
shall be elementary, middle, or high school.
(a) Elementary shall include any
configuration of grades K-5 or K-6.
(b) Middle school shall include any
configuration of grades 5-8 or 6-8.
(c) High school shall include any
configuration of grades 9-12.
(2) An A1 school or an alternative education
program shall fall into one (1), two (2), or three (3) grade level
configurations for accountability reporting.
Section 6. Reporting of Schools with Changed
School Service Area.
(1)
(a) For reporting purposes, a school's past
data trend shall be removed from public reporting if a school has a significant
change in its stable population.
(b) A school shall be considered to have a
stable population, if as a result of a change in service area boundaries or
local board of education policies affecting student population served by a
school, the population of the school remains at sixty (60) percent or higher of
its original students from the previous year in the accountability
grades.
(c) To determine if the
population is stable, the number of students in the stable population shall be
divided by the total number of students in the grades included in the
accountability calculations.
1. If the stable
population is sixty (60) percent or higher, the school's past trend data shall
be reported.
2. If the stable
population is less than sixty (60) percent, the school's past trend data shall
not be reported.
(2) A school district shall notify the
Department of Education of any school that will have an unstable population
compared to the prior year by June 30.
Section 7. Data Review and School or District
Appeal of Accountability Classifications.
(1)
A written request for a data review shall be submitted to the Department of
Education within ten (10) days after the Department of Education officially
releases the final accountability classifications as established in
703 KAR 5:270, to the public.
(2) A written
appeal of a final accountability classification shall be submitted to the
Commissioner of Education within forty-five (45) days after the Department of
Education officially releases the accountability classifications. The appeal of
a final classification shall:
(a) Identify
clearly the basis for the wrongful effect on the calculations used to place a
school into a classification; and
(b) State in detail the requested adjustment
to be made to the calculations used to place a school into a
classification.
(3)
(a) The request for an appeal for a school
accountability classification shall be signed by the principal upon approval of
the school council. If there is no school council, the request shall also be
signed by the superintendent, upon approval of the local board of
education.
(b) The request for an
appeal for a district accountability classification shall be signed by the
superintendent upon approval of the local board of education.
(4)
(a) Department of Education staff shall
review the request for an appeal against the standards established in KRS 158.6455(6).
(b) A committee shall
be appointed by the Commissioner of Education to review the pending appeals and
make recommendations to the Commissioner of Education as to whether or not to
dispute an appeal. The committee may include a teacher, a parent, a principal,
a district assessment coordinator, a superintendent, and a counselor.
(c) If the appeal is disputed by the
department, it shall submit the request to the hearing officer for the Kentucky
Board of Education.
(5)
The hearing officer shall conduct a hearing in accordance with KRS Chapter 13B.
The hearing officer shall submit a written recommended order to the Kentucky
Board of Education for the board's consideration in rendering its final order,
in accordance with KRS Chapter 13B.
Section 8. Student Participation in State
Assessments.
(1)
(a) All students enrolled shall participate
at the appropriate grade level for the state-required assessments in grades
3-12.
(b) For assessment and
accountability purposes, the state shall not use the primary level designator
and all students in grades 3-12 shall be assigned a single grade level. The
assigned grade level shall determine the state tests to administer.
(c) Exceptions for testing shall be made for
medical-exempted students.
(d)
Students categorized as English Learners (EL) shall follow testing guidelines
established by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, 20 U.S.C.
6301 et seq.
(2) For the state
assessments in grades 3-12, a school shall test all students during the test
window that are enrolled in each accountability grade on the first day of the
school's testing window and shall complete a roster in the electronic
application provided by the Department of Education.
(3) A student retained in a grade in which
state-required assessments are administered shall participate in the
assessments for that grade again and shall continue to be included in all
accountability calculations.
(4) A
student who is suspended or expelled but continues to receive instructional
services required under KRS 158.150 shall participate in the state-required
assessments.
Section 9.
Students Not Participating in State-Required Assessments.
(1) If a student does not participate in
state-required assessments, the school at which the student was enrolled on the
first day of the testing window shall include the student in the roster in the
electronic application provided by the Department of Education.
(2) A student who does not take the state
assessments and does not qualify for approved exempted status shall be assigned
the lowest reportable score on the appropriate test for accountability
calculations.
(3) A student
reaching the age of twenty-one (21) years of age who no longer generates state
funding under Support Education Excellence in Kentucky shall not be required to
participate in state-required assessments.
(4) A student who is expelled and legally not
provided instructional services under the standards established in KRS 158.150
shall not be considered to be enrolled for a full academic year and shall not
be included in accountability calculations.
(5) If a student has been expelled or
suspended at some point during a year and is enrolled but does not complete the
state-required assessment, the student shall be included in the accountability
calculation.
(6)
(a) If participation in the state-required
assessment would jeopardize a student's physical, mental, or emotional
well-being, a school or district shall submit a request for medical exemption,
which shall be subject to the approval of the Department of Education and that
states the medical condition that warrants exempting a student from the
assessments.
(b) An identified
disability or handicapping condition alone shall not be considered sufficient
reason for granting a medical exemption to state-required assessment and
accountability requirements.
(c) A
student with an approved medical exemption shall be excluded from
state-required assessments and state and federal accountability
calculations.
(7) If the
student moves out of state or to a private school before state-required
assessments can be completed in the school or district's announced testing
window, the student shall be excluded from accountability
calculations.
Section 10.
Required Participation in the National Assessment of Educational Progress
(NAEP) and State-Required Field Testing.
(1)
If a school is selected by the U.S. Department of Education or its designated
contractors to participate in NAEP testing, the school shall participate
fully.
(2) If a school is selected
by the Department of Education to participate in field testing for state
assessment purposes, the school shall participate fully.