Academic growth reporting requirements for state assessments modified.

A bill for an act

relating to education; modifying academic growth reporting requirements for state

assessments; amending Minnesota Statutes 2024, sections 120B.302, subdivision

2; 120B.305, subdivision 2; Minnesota Statutes 2025 Supplement, sections 120B.12,

subdivision 2; 120B.35, subdivision 3.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2025 Supplement, section 120B.12, subdivision 2, is amended

to read:

Subd. 2.

Identification; report.

(a) Each school district must screen every student

enrolled in kindergarten, grade 1, grade 2, and grade 3 using a screening tool approved by

the Department of Education three times each school year: (1) within the first six weeks of

the school year; (2) by February 15 each year; and (3) within the last six weeks of the school

year. Students enrolled in kindergarten, grade 1, grade 2, and grade 3, including multilingual

learners, students receiving special education services, and students enrolled in dual language

immersion programs, must be universally screened for mastery of foundational reading

skills, including phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, fluency, oral language, and for

characteristics of dyslexia as measured by a screening tool approved by the Department of

Education. The screening for characteristics of dyslexia may be integrated with universal

screening for mastery of foundational skills and expressive or receptive language mastery.

The screening tool used must be a valid and reliable universal screener that is highly

correlated with foundational reading skills. For students reading at grade level, beginning

in the winter of grade 2, the oral reading fluency screener may be used to assess reading

difficulties, including characteristics of dyslexia, without requiring a separate screening of

each subcomponent of foundational reading skills.

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(b)
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A district must submit data on student performance in kindergarten, grade 1, grade

2, and grade 3 on foundational reading skills
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,
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to the Department of Education in the annual

local literacy plan submission due on June 15,
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including
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:
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(1)
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phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, fluency, and oral language
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to the Department

of Education in the annual local literacy plan submission due on June 15.
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;
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(2) the number of students reading at grade level; and

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(3) the number of students demonstrating typical or above-typical progress, as defined

by the approved screening tool.

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(b)
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(c)
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For students enrolled in dual language immersion programs:

(1) if students are screened in the partner language, they must be screened at the same

interval as the screenings in English under paragraph (a);

(2) if the program provides instruction in foundational reading skills in English, the

students receiving that instruction must be screened in English;

(3) if the program provides instruction in foundational reading skills in the partner

language, the students receiving that instruction must be screened in the partner language;

(4) if no screener is available in the partner language, the districts must identify how

students' reading proficiency is assessed and how the districts determine and provide targeted

reading instruction in the partner language and supports to students identified as needing

additional support in developing mastery of foundational reading skills; and

(5) the partner language screening tool must be approved by the district for kindergarten

through grade 3 students.

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(c)
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(d)
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Students in grades 4 and above, including multilingual learners and students

receiving special education services, who are not reading at grade level must be screened

for reading difficulties, including characteristics of dyslexia, using a screening tool approved

by the Department of Education, and must continue to receive evidence-based instruction,

interventions, and progress monitoring until the students achieve grade-level proficiency.

A parent, in consultation with a teacher, may opt a student out of the literacy screener if the

parent and teacher decide that continuing to screen would not be beneficial to the student.

In such limited cases, the student must continue to receive progress monitoring and literacy

interventions.

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(d)
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(e)
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Reading screeners in English, and in the predominant languages of district students

where practicable, must identify and evaluate students' areas of academic need related to

literacy. The district also must monitor the progress and provide reading instruction

appropriate to the specific needs of multilingual learners. The district must use an approved,

developmentally appropriate, and culturally responsive screener and annually report summary

screener results to the commissioner by June 15 in the form and manner determined by the

commissioner.

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(e)
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(f)
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The district also must include in its local literacy plan under subdivision 4a, a

summary of the district's efforts to screen, identify, and provide interventions to students

who demonstrate characteristics of dyslexia as measured by a screening tool approved by

the Department of Education. Districts are strongly encouraged to use a MTSS framework.

With respect to students screened or identified under paragraph (a), the report must include:

(1) a summary of the district's efforts to screen for characteristics of reading difficulties,

including dyslexia;

(2) the number of students universally screened for that reporting year;

(3) the number of students demonstrating characteristics of dyslexia for that year; and

(4) an explanation of how students identified under this subdivision are provided with

alternate instruction and interventions under section
125A.56, subdivision 1
.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 120B.302, subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Comprehensive assessment system.

The commissioner, with advice from

experts with appropriate technical qualifications and experience and stakeholders,
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including

students enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12,
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must include state-developed tests in

the comprehensive assessment system. State-developed tests administered to all students

in a subject other than writing must include multiple choice questions.

Sec. 3.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 120B.305, subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Reporting requirements.

(a) Reporting of state assessment results must:

(1) provide timely, useful, and understandable information on the performance of

individual students, schools, school districts, and the state;

(2) include a growth indicator of student achievement; and

(3) determine whether students have met the state's academic standards.

(b) The commissioner must ensure that for annual computer-adaptive assessments:

(1) individual student performance data and achievement reports are available within

three school days of when students take an assessment except in a year when an assessment

reflects new performance standards;

(2) growth information is available
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and reported
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for each student
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from the student's first

assessment to each proximate assessment using a constant
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in grades 3 through 8, calculated

based on the magnitude of change in the student's score on a
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measurement scale
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that is

continuous and vertically aligned across grades
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;

(3) parents, teachers, and school administrators are able to use elementary and middle

school student performance data to project students' secondary and postsecondary

achievement; and

(4) useful diagnostic information about areas of students' academic strengths and

weaknesses is available to teachers and school administrators for improving student

instruction and indicating the specific skills and concepts that should be introduced and

developed for students at given performance levels, organized by strands within subject

areas, and aligned to state academic standards.

(c) The commissioner, in consultation with the chancellor of the Minnesota State Colleges

and Universities, must establish empirically derived benchmarks on the high school tests

that reveal a trajectory toward career and college readiness consistent with section
136F.302
,

subdivision 1a. The commissioner must disseminate to the public the computer-adaptive

assessments and high school test results upon receiving those results.

(d) A school, school district, or charter school
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may
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must
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provide a student's parent access

to the student's individual student performance data and achievement report that is made

available under paragraph (b), clause (1), when the performance data and report is available

to the school, school district, or charter school.
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A district or charter school must provide

individual student performance reports to a student's parent by email or United States mail

by August 15 of each year.
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(e) The commissioner must ensure that the data required under paragraph (b), clause

(1), is:

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(1) made available to districts in a file format, or via direct electronic transmission, that

a district can directly import into districts' student learning management systems and student

information systems; and

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(2) displayed in a secure online dashboard that is available to school and district

personnel, is updated as new assessment data is available, and is aggregated at the school

and district levels.

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Sec. 4.

Minnesota Statutes 2025 Supplement, section 120B.35, subdivision 3, is amended

to read:

Subd. 3.

State growth measures; other state measures.

(a)(1) The state's educational

assessment system measuring individual students' educational growth is based on
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indicators

of current achievement that show growth relative to an individual student's prior achievement.

Indicators of achievement and prior achievement must be based on highly reliable statewide

or districtwide assessments
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change in students' scores on a continuous and vertically aligned

measurement scale. The assessment system must quantify growth based on the change in

scale score from year to year. The commissioner must set a target for annual growth for

each grade. The assessment system must enable comparison among each student's growth,

each school site's aggregate growth, each district's aggregate growth, and the annual growth

target
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.

(2) For purposes of paragraphs (b), (c), and (d), the commissioner must analyze and

report separate categories of information using the student categories identified under the

federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as most recently reauthorized, and, in

addition to "other" for each race and ethnicity, and the Karen community, seven of the most

populous Asian and Pacific Islander groups, three of the most populous Native groups,

seven of the most populous Hispanic/Latino groups, and five of the most populous Black

and African Heritage groups as determined by the total Minnesota population based on the

most recent American Community Survey; English learners under section
124D.59
; home

language; free or reduced-price meals; and all students enrolled in a Minnesota public school

who are currently or were previously in foster care, except that such disaggregation and

cross tabulation is not required if the number of students in a category is insufficient to yield

statistically reliable information or the results would reveal personally identifiable information

about an individual student.

(b) The commissioner, in consultation with a stakeholder group that includes assessment

and evaluation directors, district staff, experts in culturally responsive teaching, and

researchers, must implement an appropriate growth model that compares the difference in

students' achievement scores over time, and includes criteria for identifying schools and

school districts that demonstrate academic progress or progress toward English language

proficiency. The model may be used to advance educators' professional development and

replicate programs that succeed in meeting students' diverse learning needs. Data on

individual teachers generated under the model are personnel data under section
13.43
. The

model must allow users to:

(1) report student growth consistent with this paragraph; and

(2) for all student categories, report and compare aggregated and disaggregated state

student growth and, under section
120B.11, subdivision 2
, clause (2), student learning and

outcome data using the student categories identified under the federal Elementary and

Secondary Education Act, as most recently reauthorized, and other student categories under

paragraph (a), clause (2).

The commissioner must report measures of student growth and, under section
120B.11,

subdivision 2
, clause (2), student learning and outcome data, consistent with this paragraph,

including the English language development, academic progress, and oral academic

development of English learners and their native language development if the native language

is used as a language of instruction, and include data on all pupils enrolled in a Minnesota

public school course or program who are currently or were previously counted as an English

learner under section
124D.59
. In addition, the commissioner must report language

development outcomes of the target language of instruction other than English for all students

who are in a dual language immersion program or who are enrolled in a Minnesota public

school course or program in which the objective is improving or maintaining the students'

native language.

(c) When reporting student performance under section
120B.36, subdivision 1
, the

commissioner annually, beginning July 1, 2011, must report two core measures indicating

the extent to which current high school graduates are being prepared for postsecondary

academic and career opportunities:

(1) a preparation measure indicating the number and percentage of high school graduates

in the most recent school year who completed course work important to preparing them for

postsecondary academic and career opportunities, consistent with the core academic subjects

required for admission to Minnesota's public colleges and universities as determined by the

Office of Higher Education under chapter 136A; and

(2) a rigorous coursework measure indicating the number and percentage of high school

graduates in the most recent school year who successfully completed one or more

college-level advanced placement, international baccalaureate, postsecondary enrollment

options including concurrent enrollment, other rigorous courses of study under section

120B.021, subdivision 1a
, or industry certification courses or programs.

When reporting the core measures under clauses (1) and (2), the commissioner must also

analyze and report separate categories of information using the student categories identified

under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as most recently reauthorized,

and other student categories under paragraph (a), clause (2).

(d) When reporting student performance under section
120B.36, subdivision 1
, the

commissioner annually, beginning July 1, 2014, must report summary data on school safety

and students' engagement and connection at school, consistent with the student categories

identified under paragraph (a), clause (2). The summary data under this paragraph are

separate from and must not be used for any purpose related to measuring or evaluating the

performance of classroom teachers. The commissioner, in consultation with qualified experts

on student engagement and connection and classroom teachers, must identify highly reliable

variables that generate summary data under this paragraph. The summary data may be used

at school, district, and state levels only. Any data on individuals received, collected, or

created that are used to generate the summary data under this paragraph are nonpublic data

under section
13.02, subdivision 9
.

(e) For purposes of statewide educational accountability, the commissioner must identify

and report measures that demonstrate the success of learning year program providers under

sections
123A.05
and
124D.68
, among other such providers, in improving students'

graduation outcomes. The commissioner, beginning July 1, 2015, must annually report

summary data on:

(1) the four- and six-year graduation rates of students under this paragraph;

(2) the percent of students under this paragraph whose progress and performance levels

are meeting career and college readiness benchmarks under section
120B.307
; and

(3) the success that learning year program providers experience in:

(i) identifying at-risk and off-track student populations by grade;

(ii) providing successful prevention and intervention strategies for at-risk students;

(iii) providing successful recuperative and recovery or reenrollment strategies for off-track

students; and

(iv) improving the graduation outcomes of at-risk and off-track students.

The commissioner may include in the annual report summary data on other education

providers serving a majority of students eligible to participate in a learning year program.

(f) The commissioner, in consultation with recognized experts with knowledge and

experience in assessing the language proficiency and academic performance of all English

learners enrolled in a Minnesota public school course or program who are currently or were

previously counted as an English learner under section
124D.59
, must identify and report

appropriate and effective measures to improve current categories of language difficulty and

assessments, and monitor and report data on students' English proficiency levels, program

placement, and academic language development, including oral academic language.

(g) When reporting four- and six-year graduation rates, the commissioner or school

district must disaggregate the data by student categories according to paragraph (a), clause

(2).

(h) A school district must inform parents and guardians that volunteering information

on student categories not required by the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and

Secondary Education Act is optional and will not violate the privacy of students or their

families, parents, or guardians. The notice must state the purpose for collecting the student

data.