April Showers Bring May Flowers

Abstract

WHILE STATE legislatures have been very busy during the first four months of the year, the rate of passage for bills does tend to crescendo as the sessions progress. By April, the volume is usually at its peak, as many legislatures speed toward their dates of adjournment. If April showers help generate flowers, perhaps this rain of legislative activity will generate new growth of its own. REPORTING ON EARLY WARNING INDICATORS The Indiana legislature was particularly busy this year. One section of H.B. 1347--a very big bill with many interesting components, among them increasing the compulsory attendance age to 18--appears to seek disclosure of early warning signs related to student engagement. The provision requires schools to report data on some new indicators that are highly predictive of students' dropping out of school. These new indicators include the number and percentage of students participating in school flex programs, which allow students with chronic attendance or academic issues to meet alternative standards for attendance; the number of students who have dropped out of school and their reasons for dropping out; the number of students who have not completed sufficient credits to advance to grade 10; and the number of students suspended for any reason. ACCELERATING LEARNING Another piece of Indiana's H.B. 1347 requires the state board to design a high school diploma that can be granted to those not currently enrolled who successfully complete a high school fast-track-to-college program. Qualified individuals must be at least 19 years of age and not enrolled in a school, or at least 17 years of age and have received consent from the high schools they have most recently attended. The bill authorizes state higher education institutions to establish such programs, which offer individuals an opportunity to earn a high school diploma while earning credits toward a college degree. In addition, Section 10 of H.B. 1347 creates the Indiana Double Up for College Program, which allows districts (or school corporations, as they are called in Indiana) and state education institutions to collaborate on offering early college, dual credit, or dual enrollment programs. High school juniors and seniors may enroll in courses under the program on a full-time or part-time basis. State institutions must accept or reject a student based on the standards ordinarily used to decide student admission. ASSESSMENT Kentucky H.B. 197 creates a new section of law defining core courses and requires the state department to begin developing standardized end-of-course (EOC) examinations in algebra I, algebra II, and geometry to be piloted at the end of the 2007-08 academic year. Content teachers in the core courses and postsecondary faculty members, including subject-matter specialists, are to be involved in the development and review of items for the exams. If resources are available, EOC exams are to be available to schools in an online format. Another new Indiana law (H.B. 1240) mandates that the department and the state board review the current statewide testing program. Long-term goals for a transition to a new testing program must include developing an assessment system that is less time-consuming and less expensive while maintaining the current level of rigor, that provides prompt results, that measures individual student growth from year to year, that explores all options for diagnostic tests for use by teachers, that is compatible with a move to online testing, and that assesses writing ability. South Carolina, too, has authorized a study to determine the feasibility and cost of converting the state assessment program to a computer-based or computer-adaptive format. New provisions in H.B. 4328 require tests to include a writing assessment and multiple-choice questions designed to reflect a range of cognitive abilities beyond the knowledge level. …