Earlier this week, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed into law HB21-1161, which suspends statewide student assessment testing for select grades across Colorado school systems for the 2020-21 school year,
The bill suspends the administration of state assessments, contingent on receiving a waiver of federal law from the U.S. Department of Education, for the following instructional areas and grade levels for the 2020-21 school year:
- Science for students enrolled in grades 5, 8, and 11;
- Math for students enrolled in grades 3, 5, and 7; and
- English language arts for students enrolled in grades 4, 6, and 8.
For the 2020-21 school year, the bill suspends the administration of the social studies assessment for students enrolled in elementary and middle school.
The bill allows the parent of a student enrolled in a grade for which administration of the English language arts or math assessment is suspended to request through the local education provider in which the student is enrolled that the student participates in the English language arts assessment or the math assessment.
The bill prohibits a school district from using student academic growth measures or student performance measures when evaluating licensed personnel for the 2020-21 school year.
The bill requires a school or school district or the state charter school institute to implement the performance plan type that was assigned in the preceding school year. The bill also requires the department of education, in determining the number of school years that a school or school district or the institute is on performance watch or subject to 2-year review, to exclude the plan types for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years and count the plan type for the 2022-23 school year as if it were consecutive to the 2019-20 school year.
If required to implement a priority improvement or turnaround plan during the 2020-21 school year on the basis of its plan type for the 2019-20 school year, the bill allows a school or school district or the institute to request a plan type for the 2021-22 school year that reflects its level of attainment based on an alternative body of evidence.
For the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, the bill suspends the requirement that the department determines annually the level of attainment for public schools, school districts, the institute, and institute charter schools based on performance indicators.
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