Report Title:

Reading Accountability

 

Description:

Establishes goals to assist students to improve their reading skills.

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

943

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to reading accountability.

 

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

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that it is essential for children in the public schools to read early and well in elementary school. The legislature further finds that a clear and visible goal, assessments to determine the reading level at each building, annual measurements of elementary school reading improvement, and creating accountability in each level of the educational system will result in a significant increase in the number of children reading at or above grade level.

SECTION 2. Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new part to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"PART . READING ACCOUNTABILITY

§302A-A Definitions. As used in this part:

"Actual percentage" means the headcount enrollment of third-grade students reading at or above third-grade level divided by the headcount enrollment of third-grade students in the building on the date the third-grade reading assessment is administered.

"Adjusted percentage" means the actual percentage minus those students who were not in the district at least one-half of each of the student's second- and third-grade years, and minus those students who have been enrolled in a bilingual program for two or less years from both the numerator and denominator.

"At or above third-grade level" means at or above the grade-level equivalent standard established for the test.

"Building baseline" means the building's actual percentage in the spring of 2002.

"Equal annual incremental improvement" is one-fourth of the improvement necessary to progress from the building baseline to the reading goal by the spring of 2006 and is calculated as follows: The state goal of ninety per cent less the building baseline divided by four.

"Factored equal annual incremental improvement" is calculated as follows: The state goal of ninety per cent less the building's adjusted percentage in the spring of 2001 divided by four.

"Reading goal" means ninety per cent of a public elementary school building's annual headcount enrollment of third-grade students reading at or above grade level as measured in grade-level equivalence by the third-grade reading assessment.

"Third-grade reading assessment" means the reading portion of the third-grade standardized achievement test given annually to all students in grade three.

§302A-B Reading goals. The reading goal of this part is: By the year 2006 and each year thereafter, ninety per cent or more of all of this State's public schools of which the third graders are not achieving a standard of fifty per cent or better on their Stanford Achievement Test reading scores will read at or above grade level, by the end of their third grade year.

§302A-C Reading assessments. To achieve the state reading goal:

(1) Each departmental school district shall use classroom-based assessments to evaluate the reading level of its kindergarten, first, and second graders annually for purposes of intervention and remediation commencing in the spring of 2002.

(2) Each departmental school district shall assess the reading level of its third graders in the spring of 2002 and each year thereafter using the third-grade assessment for the primary purpose of system accountability and not primarily for the purpose of remediation commencing at grade four.

(3) Each elementary school shall determine its building baseline which shall be its actual percentage of students reading at or above third-grade level as determined by the third-grade reading assessment administered in the spring of 2002.

(4) Each public elementary school building is expected to make equal annual incremental improvement from its baseline. Equal annual incremental improvement is one-fourth of the reading improvement necessary to progress from the building baseline in the spring of 2002 to the state reading goal of ninety per cent in the spring of 2006 and shall be calculated and measured on a building by building basis. The percentage of required improvement will be different for different public schools since it is based on the individual building baselines.

§302A-D Reading accountability. The levels of system accountability and reporting necessary to achieve the reading goal shall include the State, the professional associations, the principals, the teachers, the public school buildings, the departmental school districts, and the parents.

(1) The superintendent of education or the superintendent's designee shall:

(A) Report annually to the legislature's standing committees having primary jurisdiction over lower education on the statewide progress toward the reading goal;

(B) Provide progress reports on the third-grade reading assessment scores to the public in clear, understandable terms on a school, district, and statewide basis, and disclose the number of third graders reading at each grade-level equivalent across the range from kindergarten through eighth grade;

(C) Encourage buildings to develop a repertoire of instructional approaches tailored to different student learning styles;

(D) Provide information to public schools and school districts regarding organizational and instructional practices of representative schools that are making or exceeding the equal annual incremental improvement toward the reading goal; and

(E) Not adopt a specific instructional approach. The standard for evaluating an elementary school on a district's reading instruction will be whether it results in annual and incremental growth;

(2) The superintendent of education shall coordinate the activities of relevant professional associations. It shall:

(A) Meet and confer with each relevant professional association regarding voluntary alignment of association resources to support the achievement of the reading goal; and

(B) Report annually to the senate and house education committees on the efforts of professional associations to support the achievement of the reading goal;

(3) Each public elementary school principal shall have the primary responsibility within the school for providing leadership in reaching the reading goal;

(4) Each third-grade teacher shall annually report to the parent or guardian the reading level of the child as measured by the third-grade reading assessment commencing June 2002 and each year thereafter in grade-level equivalents;

(5) Each public elementary school shall annually report to its community the number, the actual percentage, and the adjusted percentage of third-grade students reading at or above third-grade level and the distribution and range of all reading scores in grade-level equivalents increments, on the third-grade reading assessment required under section 302A-C;

(6) Each district shall report to the superintendent of public instruction annually beginning October 2001, the number, the actual percentage, and adjusted percentage of third-grade students reading at or above grade level on the third-grade reading assessment required under section 5 of this Part; and

(7) Parents are a child's first and most influential teacher. Public school districts shall provide encouragement and support for parents to read with their children at least twenty minutes a day from birth through third grade.

§302A-E No legal action. Nothing in this Part shall be construed to provide a cause of legal action for damages or specific performance."

SECTION 3. In codifying the new sections added by section 2 of this Act, the revisor of statutes shall substitute appropriate section numbers for the letters used in designating the new sections in this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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