Opinion ID: 1843606
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Student Performance Standards

Text: The public school system must enable students to develop the capacities that are the products of an adequate education. Students with disabilities who need special education services shall be provided with the opportunity to acquire the same capacities identified herein. This system shall be performance-based and must equip the students with at least the following capacities. Sufficient oral and written communication skills to function in Alabama and at national and international levels. Sufficient mathematical and scientific skills to function in Alabama and at national and international levels. Sufficient knowledge of economic, social and political systems generally, and of the history, politics, and social structure of Alabama and the United States specifically, to enable the students to make informed choices. Sufficient understanding of governmental processes and of basic civic institutions to enable the student to understand and contribute to the issues that affect his or her community, state, and nation. Sufficient self-knowledge and knowledge of principles of health and mental hygiene to enable the student to monitor and contribute to his or her own physical and mental well-being. Sufficient understanding of the arts to enable each student to appreciate his or her cultural heritage and the cultural heritage of others. Sufficient training, or preparation for advanced training, in academic or vocational skills, and sufficient guidance to enable each child to choose and pursue life's work intelligently. Sufficient levels of academic or vocational skills to enable public school students to compete favorably with their counterparts in Alabama, in surrounding states, across the nation, and throughout the world in academics or in the job market. Sufficient support and guidance so that every student feels a sense of self-worth and ability to achieve, and so that every student is encouraged to live up to his or her full human potential. These standards apply to all students including students with disabilities. The methods of instruction for such students may differ and appropriate modifications in a student's Individualized Education Plan (IEP) may require some modifications in the application of these standards to students with significant cognitive disabilities. Student learning goals reflecting the capacities listed above shall be developed and student performance objectives, based on these learning goals, shall be established in order to enumerate more specifically what each Alabama student needs to know and be able to do in terms that will be measurable. The learning goals and student performance objectives shall be completed and submitted to the Court no later than six months from the date of this Order. Parties shall have 60 days from the submission of these goals and objectives to file objections with the Court. Within six months of the promulgation of statewide learning goals and performance objectives, the principal and staff of each school, in consultation with parents, students and other community members, shall develop a school level plan for teaching their students what they must know and be able to do, consistent with the statewide goals and objectives. Assistance in developing these plans shall be available from the State Department of Education and local systems and the plans shall be updated periodically. Student learning goals and student performance objectives shall be translated into courses of study which will identify what students should know and be able to do, but not how they will be correlated with the student performance objectives described hereinabove. The learning goals, performance objectives, and courses of study called for in this Plan shall be re-examined no less frequently than once every six years to update them as appropriate. The learning goals and performance objectives shall also include curriculum and learning experiences designed to prepare secondary students for future education, career opportunities and active citizenship. A state-wide long range plan shall be developed for secondary education which incorporates a high level common core academic curriculum for all students. The state plan shall not require that schools be held to any one model, but the performance objectives shall be clearly defined and become the focus of each school's program. The secondary program shall ensure that all secondary students are provided with a high-level common core academic curriculum, including academically rigorous material in science, mathematics, English, foreign languages, the arts, social studies, and work preparation skills throughout the secondary years, and support to stay in school and take advantage of that curriculum. In addition, the secondary program shall ensure that students have access to advanced courses and learning experiences in enriched arts and sciences and high skill occupationally oriented fields. Schools shall not track students, relegate particular students to a general track of undemanding courses or design course work that forecloses educational and occupational options. Programs shall not result in de facto tracking and shall include safeguards to ensure that factors such as socioeconomic status, race, gender, and disability do not limit or determine students' post-high school pursuits. Defendants shall provide transition services and supports for each student with a disability in the State of Alabama. To implement this requirement, a transition plan shall be immediately developed for each student with a disability age 16 or older, and younger students if necessary, as part of their IEP. Transition services shall be provided, when appropriate, until a student receives a high school diploma or reaches age 21. Students with disabilities shall have an opportunity, consistent with their IEP, to acquire specific skills within appropriate community settings and to generalize skills to a variety of home and community settings in which the skills typically would occur. Nothing in this order requiring transition services to be community-based shall be interpreted as eliminating a student's participation in general education classes and school activities during the middle and high school years. Students with disabilities shall have access and regularly structured opportunities to interact with age-appropriate peers throughout the program day in pursuing their transition goals. Students with severe cognitive disabilities who meet their IEP goals shall be permitted to participate in graduation without affecting their eligibility for post-high-school transition services. For students with cognitive disabilities, secondary schools shall provide appropriate transition services and life skill services in order to ensure meaningful post-secondary educational and vocational opportunities. Such transition services shall be consistent with the transition services described hereinabove. Students with cognitive disabilities shall be taught economic, social, and self-help skills in environments which are the same as those in which they shall perform those skills. Students with disabilities must be part of the comprehensive education process in this Plan. Defendants shall submit a secondary program plan to the Court within 18 months from the date of the Court's remedy order. Parties shall have 60 days from its submission to file objections with the Court. Assessment strategies which are related to the student performance objectives and which are performance based shall be developed to measure whether students are attaining the capacities set forth herein. In developing these assessment strategies, accommodations may be necessary to allow all students, including students with disabilities, to demonstrate their competence. The new assessment system shall be developed on a timeline in which assessment strategies are implemented as they become available. The assessment system shall be completed no later than six years from the date of the Court's remedy order. The assessment strategies shall not be used in such a way as to reward schools for drop-outs, for unwarranted retentions, suspensions, or expulsions or for inappropriate special education placements and shall be monitored for validity, reliability and absence of racial, cultural and gender bias. Graduation and promotion criteria for students shall be examined and standards established based on the acquisition of the nine capacities described herein. The new graduation and promotion requirements for students will be phased in as this plan is implemented, and as schools receive adequate resources to make such requirements appropriate. Defendants shall submit these new graduation and promotion requirements to the Court no later than 24 months from the date of this Court's Order. Parties shall have 60 days from the submission of these requirements to file objections with the Court.