An Act To Improve the Evaluation of Public Schools
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 1253
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Sponsors: BATES, DAUGHTRY, GIDEON, HUBBELL, PIERCE, POULIOT

Legislative Document 
No. 1253 
H.P. 853 
House of Representatives, April 7, 2015 
An Act To Improve the Evaluation of Public Schools 
Reference to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs suggested and ordered 
printed. 
ROBERT B. HUNT 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative BATES of Westbrook. 
Cosponsored by Representatives: DAUGHTRY of Brunswick, GIDEON of Freeport, 
HUBBELL of Bar Harbor, PIERCE of Falmouth, POULIOT of Augusta. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
CONCEPT DRAFT 
SUMMARY 
This bill is a concept draft pursuant to Joint Rule 208. 
This bill would require that, beginning with the 2016-2017 school year and only after 
the adoption of major substantive rules by the Department of Education, the 
Commissioner of Education implement a school assessment system to measure school 
performance and student proficiency.  The system implemented must include multiple 
measures of student achievement and may include, but is not limited to, the use of: 
1.  Summative assessments aligned with the grade level expectations of the 
parameters for essential instruction and graduation requirements established under the 
Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 6209, subsection 2 and Department of 
Education Rule Chapter 132: Learning Results: Parameters for Essential Instruction; 
2.  Formative assessments that measure student growth over time; and 
3.  Information of the state assessment program under Title 20-A, section 6204 on 
student achievement reported by the department in compliance with applicable federal 
statutes and regulations regarding student assessment as required by the federal No Child 
Left Behind Act of 2001, 20 United States Code, Chapter 70. 
The bill would require the commissioner to annually report the statewide and school 
level results of the school assessment system with regard to the performance of schools 
and the proficiency of students in each of the State's elementary and secondary schools 
and to provide each participating school with a profile of school performance and student 
proficiency based upon data from the school assessment system. The reporting 
mechanisms and the categories reported must be uniform for each school compared at the 
elementary level or the secondary level. 
The bill would also require the Commissioner of Education to convene a task force to 
develop a system to evaluate or rate the performance of public schools in the State and to 
incorporate the recommendations of the task force in the adoption of major substantive 
rules under this bill. The task force must include, but is not limited to, representatives of 
the following entities and stakeholder groups: 
1. The Department of Education; 
2. The State Board of Education; 
3. Teachers; 
4. Principals; 
5. Parents; 
6. The Education Research Institute under Title 20-A, section 10; and 
7. Students. 
The school assessment system developed by the task force must include, but is not 
limited to, the following elements: 
1. Accurate measures of student progress over at least 3 years; 
2. Rates of postsecondary school attendance and enlistment in the United States 
Armed Forces over at least 3 years; 
3. A peer group comparison that takes into account, but is not limited to, use of 
special education services, the number of students eligible for free or reduced-price 
meals, local and county unemployment data and median household income; 
4. School attendance rates; 
5. Graduation rates; 
6. Procedures to address specific challenges unique to a municipality, county or 
school administrative unit; and 
7. Interviews with parents of students, members of governing boards of school 
administrative units, teachers and other education leaders about the overall school 
environment. 
The bill would require the task force to review the requirements of Title 20-A, 
chapter 222 and the school assessment systems that have been implemented in other 
states and jurisdictions and develop a school assessment system that will best serve the 
academic and developmental needs of students in this State. The school assessment 
system may not use a bell curve, and a school may not be penalized because of the failure 
of students to take certain standardized tests. The task force would be required to provide 
opportunities for the public and interested parties to provide input regarding the 
development of the school assessment system and give notice to the public and interested 
parties of the task force's meetings during which the public may provide testimony or 
feedback on the proposed models under consideration by the task force.