Bill Text: OR HB2862 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to statewide assessments of students; prescribing an effective date.
Spectrum: Committee Bill
Status: (Failed) 2013-07-08 - In committee upon adjournment. [HB2862 Detail]
Download: Oregon-2013-HB2862-Introduced.html
77th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2013 Regular Session
NOTE: Matter within { + braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within { - braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
{ + braces and plus signs + } .
LC 2603
House Bill 2862
Sponsored by COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
Limits when school districts may administer statewide
assessments.
Directs Department of Education to conduct study to determine
effectiveness of statewide assessments.
Prohibits school districts from taking certain actions related
to educator based on results of statewide assessments by students
of educator.
Takes effect July 1, 2014.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to statewide assessments of students; creating new
provisions; amending ORS 329.486, 342.850, 342.856 and 342.905;
and prescribing an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. ORS 329.486 is amended to read:
329.486. { - The State Board of Education shall adopt
guidelines for the best practices of administering statewide
assessments of students. The guidelines must provide that a
student who is in any grade from kindergarten through grade eight
and who has met or exceeded state standards on a test is excused
from being required to retake the test. - } { + The State Board
of Education shall adopt requirements for the administration of
statewide assessments. The requirements must provide that:
(1) A student may not be required to take a statewide
assessment more than once each school year.
(2) Statewide assessments used to determine proficiency for a
grade level may be administered only at the end of the school
year. + }
SECTION 2. { + (1) The Department of Education shall conduct a
study to determine the effectiveness of statewide assessments. As
part of the study, the department shall determine:
(a) In which grades statewide assessments should be
administered; and
(b) The costs associated with administering statewide
assessments, including the direct costs for materials and scoring
and the costs of staff time in administering the assessments.
(2) The department shall submit a report on the study described
in subsection (1) of this section to the legislative interim
committees on education no later than October 1, 2014. + }
SECTION 3. ORS 342.850 is amended to read:
342.850. (1) The district superintendent of every school
district, including superintendents of education service
districts, shall cause to have made at least annually but with
multiple observations an evaluation of performance for each
probationary teacher employed by the district. The purpose of the
evaluation is to aid the teacher in making continuing
professional growth and to determine the teacher's performance of
the teaching responsibilities. Evaluations shall be based upon at
least two observations and other relevant information developed
by the district.
(2)(a) The district school board shall develop an evaluation
process in consultation with school administrators and with
teachers. If the district's teachers are represented by a local
bargaining organization, the board shall consult with teachers
belonging to and appointed by the local bargaining organization
in the consultation required by this paragraph.
(b) The district school board shall implement the evaluation
process that includes:
(A) The establishment of job descriptions { - and - } { + :
(B) The establishment of + } performance standards { + , + }
which { + must + } include { + , + } but { - are not - }
{ + need not be + } limited to { + , + } items included in the
job description { + and which may not be based on students'
scores on statewide assessments + };
{ - (B) - } { + (C) + } A preevaluation interview which
includes but is not limited to the establishment of performance
goals for the teacher, based on the job description and
performance standards;
{ - (C) - } { + (D) + } An evaluation based on written
criteria which include the performance goals;
{ - (D) - } { + (E) + } A post-evaluation interview in
which:
(i) The results of the evaluation are discussed with the
teacher; and
(ii) A written program of assistance for improvement is
established, if one is needed to remedy any deficiency specified
in ORS 342.865 (1)(a), (d), (g) or (h); and
{ - (E) - } { + (F) + } The utilization of peer assistance
whenever practicable and reasonable to aid teachers to better
meet the needs of students. Peer assistance shall be voluntary
and subject to the terms of any applicable collective bargaining
agreement. No witness or document related to the peer assistance
or the record of peer assistance shall be admissible in any
proceeding before the Fair Dismissal Appeals Board, or in a
probationary teacher nonrenewal hearing before a school board
under ORS 342.835, without the mutual consent of the district and
the teacher provided with peer assistance.
(c) Nothing in this subsection is intended to prohibit a
district from consulting with any other individuals.
(3) Except in those districts having an average daily
membership, as defined in ORS 327.006, of fewer than 200
students, the person or persons making the evaluations must hold
teaching licenses. The evaluation shall be signed by the school
official who supervises the teacher and by the teacher. A copy of
the evaluation shall be delivered to the teacher.
(4) The evaluation reports shall be maintained in the personnel
files of the district.
(5) The evaluation report shall be placed in the teacher's
personnel file only after reasonable notice to the teacher.
(6) A teacher may make a written statement relating to any
evaluation, reprimand, charge, action or any matter placed in the
teacher's personnel file and such teacher's statement shall be
placed in the personnel file.
(7) All charges resulting in disciplinary action shall be
considered a permanent part of a teacher's personnel file and
shall not be removed for any reason. A teacher shall have the
right to attach the teacher's response, or other relevant
documents, to any document included under this subsection.
(8) The personnel file shall be open for inspection by the
teacher, the teacher's designees and the district school board
and its designees. District school boards shall adopt rules
governing access to personnel files, including rules specifying
whom school officials may designate to inspect personnel files.
(9) A program of assistance for improvement or evaluation
procedure shall not be technically construed, and no alleged
error or unfairness in a program of assistance for improvement
shall cause the overturning of a dismissal, nonextension of
contract, nonrenewal of contract or other disciplinary action
unless the contract teacher suffered a substantial and
prejudicial impairment in the teacher's ability to comply with
school district standards.
SECTION 4. ORS 342.856 is amended to read:
342.856. (1) The State Board of Education, in consultation with
the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission, shall adopt core
teaching standards to improve student academic growth and
learning by:
(a) Assisting school districts in determining the effectiveness
of teachers and administrators and in making human resource
decisions; and
(b) Improving the professional development and the classroom
and administrative practices of teachers and administrators.
(2) The core teaching standards adopted under this section
must:
(a) Take into consideration multiple measures of teacher
effectiveness, based on widely accepted standards of teaching
that encompass a range of appropriate teaching behaviors and that
use multiple evaluation methods;
(b) Take into consideration evidence of student academic growth
and learning based on multiple measures of student progress,
including performance data of students, schools and school
districts;
(c) Be research-based;
(d) Be separately developed for teachers and administrators;
and
(e) Be able to be customized for each school district, which
may include individualized weighting and application of
standards.
(3) The core teaching standards adopted under this section must
attempt to:
(a) Strengthen the knowledge, skills, disposition and classroom
and administrative practices of teachers and administrators in
public schools;
(b) Refine the support, assistance and professional growth
opportunities offered to a teacher or an administrator, based on
the individual needs of the teacher or administrator and the
needs of the students, the school and the school district of the
teacher or administrator;
(c) Allow each teacher or administrator to establish a set of
classroom or administrative practices and student learning
objectives that are based on the individual circumstances of the
teacher or administrator, including the classroom or other
assignments of the teacher or administrator;
(d) Establish a formative growth process for each teacher and
administrator that supports professional learning and
collaboration with other teachers and administrators; and
(e) Use evaluation methods and professional development,
support and other activities that are based on curricular
standards and that are targeted to the needs of each teacher and
administrator.
{ + (4) The core teaching standards adopted under this
section may not allow a school district to make a human resource
decision based solely on students' scores on statewide
assessments. + }
SECTION 5. ORS 342.856, as amended by section 4, chapter 729,
Oregon Laws 2011, is amended to read:
342.856. (1) The State Board of Education, in consultation with
the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission, shall adopt core
teaching standards to improve student academic growth and
learning by:
(a) Assisting school districts in determining the effectiveness
of teachers and administrators and in making human resource
decisions; and
(b) Improving the professional development and the classroom
and administrative practices of teachers and administrators.
(2) The core teaching standards adopted under this section
must:
(a) Take into consideration multiple measures of teacher
effectiveness, based on widely accepted standards of teaching
that encompass a range of appropriate teaching behaviors and that
use multiple evaluation methods;
(b) Take into consideration evidence of student academic growth
and learning based on multiple measures of student progress,
including performance data of students, schools and school
districts;
(c) Be research-based;
(d) Be separately developed for teachers and administrators;
and
(e) Be able to be customized for each school district, which
may include individualized weighting and application of
standards.
(3) The core teaching standards adopted under this section must
attempt to:
(a) Strengthen the knowledge, skills, disposition and classroom
and administrative practices of teachers and administrators in
public schools;
(b) Refine the support, assistance and professional growth
opportunities offered to a teacher or an administrator, based on
the individual needs of the teacher or administrator and the
needs of the students, the school and the school district of the
teacher or administrator;
(c) Allow each teacher or administrator to establish a set of
classroom or administrative practices and student learning
objectives that are based on the individual circumstances of the
teacher or administrator, including the classroom or other
assignments of the teacher or administrator;
(d) Establish a formative growth process for each teacher and
administrator that supports professional learning and
collaboration with other teachers and administrators; and
(e) Use evaluation methods and professional development,
support and other activities that are based on curricular
standards and that are targeted to the needs of each teacher and
administrator.
{ + (4) The core teaching standards adopted under this
section may not allow a school district to make a human resource
decision based solely on students' scores on statewide
assessments. + }
{ - (4) - } { + (5) + } A school district board must
include the core teaching standards adopted under this section
for all evaluations of teachers and administrators of the school
district. The standards shall be customized based on the
collaborative efforts of the teachers and administrators of the
school district and the exclusive bargaining representative of
the employees of the school district.
SECTION 6. ORS 342.905 is amended to read:
342.905. (1) If the district school board dismisses the teacher
or does not extend the contract of the contract teacher, the
teacher or the teacher's representative may appeal that decision
to the Fair Dismissal Appeals Board established under ORS 342.930
by depositing by certified mail addressed to the Superintendent
of Public Instruction and a copy to the superintendent of the
school district:
(a) In the case of dismissal, within 10 days, as provided in
ORS 174.120, after receipt of notice of the district school
board's decision, notice of appeal with a brief statement giving
the reasons for the appeal.
(b) In the case of a contract nonextension, within 15 days, as
provided in ORS 174.120, after receipt of the written notice of
nonextension of a contract, notice of appeal with a brief
statement giving the reasons for the appeal.
(2)(a) As soon as practicable after the time the notice of
appeal is received by the Superintendent of Public Instruction,
the superintendent shall appoint a panel of three members from
the Fair Dismissal Appeals Board for the purpose of conducting a
hearing. Insofar as practicable, the panel shall be selected from
those members of the board serving in positions where the average
daily membership as determined in ORS 342.930 most nearly
coincides with that of the involved district. The panel shall
consist of:
(A) One member from the category representing district school
board members;
(B) One member from the category not affiliated with common or
union high school districts; and
(C) One member from the category representing teachers or
administrators, as follows:
(i) If the appeal is from a contract teacher in a teaching
position, the panel shall include the teacher member of the
board.
(ii) If the contract teacher is in an administrative position,
an administrative member shall sit in place of the teacher
member.
(b) The panel may not contain a member who is a resident of the
district that is bringing the dismissal or nonextension.
(c) The Department of Education, at the department's expense,
shall provide to the panel appropriate professional and other
special assistance reasonably required to conduct a hearing. The
panel shall be empowered, on behalf of the contract teacher, the
district superintendent and the district school board, to
subpoena and swear witnesses and to require witnesses to give
testimony and produce relevant evidence at or prior to the
hearing.
(d) The executive secretary of the board may issue subpoenas on
behalf of a panel. A person subpoenaed under this subsection may
move to quash or modify the subpoena if it is oppressive or
unreasonable. The motion must be made before the time specified
in the subpoena for appearance or production of materials. The
motion may be made to the executive secretary or the panel.
(e) In a case pending before a panel that involves a teacher's
performance at an Oregon Youth Authority facility, the panel
assigned to the case may submit to the Director of the Oregon
Youth Authority written questions that the panel unanimously
agrees are relevant to the case. The director shall respond to
the panel's questions in writing within 20 days of the director's
receipt of the questions from the panel. If a question by the
panel seeks information that is not confidential or privileged
under Oregon or federal law, the director shall provide the
information requested by the panel. If a question by the panel
seeks information that is confidential or privileged under Oregon
or federal law, the director, in responding to the question, may
not disclose the confidential or privileged information but shall
instead explain that the information being sought is confidential
or privileged. The procedure outlined in this paragraph is not in
lieu of any other mechanism that may be available to the panel or
parties for obtaining or presenting evidence.
(3) The Attorney General shall assign an assistant, at no cost
to either involved party, to advise the Fair Dismissal Appeals
Board, to be present at any hearing held by a panel, and to
perform those tasks at the request of the board that would
normally require legal training.
(4) Within 10 days after receipt of the notice of an appeal of
contract nonextension, the district shall serve upon the Fair
Dismissal Appeals Board and the teacher a written statement of
reason for the contract nonextension, which shall include:
(a) A plain and concise statement of the facts relied on to
support the statutory grounds for nonextension of the contract;
(b) The statutory grounds upon which the district believes such
contract nonextension is justified; and
(c) A list of witnesses and documents upon which the district
will rely at hearing.
(5)(a) At least 10 days prior to the hearing, the teacher shall
provide a list of witnesses and exhibits to the Fair Dismissal
Appeals Board panel and the school district.
(b) The Fair Dismissal Appeals Board panel shall hold a
contested case hearing under ORS chapter 183 within 100 days of
the receipt by the teacher of notice of dismissal or of the
statement of reasons in the case of contract nonextension. No
later than 140 days after the filing of an appeal, consistent
with due process, the Fair Dismissal Appeals Board panel shall
prepare and send a written decision to the contract teacher, the
district superintendent, the district school board and the
Superintendent of Public Instruction. The hearing shall be
private unless the teacher requests a public hearing. At the
hearing, the district and the contract teacher shall have the
right to be present and be heard, to be represented by counsel,
to present evidence and cross-examine adverse witnesses and to
offer evidence that in the panel's judgment is relevant to the
dispute. The panel may take all reasonable steps to require the
parties to conclude the hearing in an expeditious manner.
(6) When the Fair Dismissal Appeals Board panel has completed
its hearing, it shall prepare a written decision and send it to
the contract teacher, the district superintendent, the district
school board and the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The
Fair Dismissal Appeals Board panel shall determine whether the
facts relied upon to support the statutory grounds cited for
dismissal or nonextension are true and substantiated. If the
panel finds these facts true and substantiated, it shall then
consider whether such facts, in light of all the circumstances
and additional facts developed at the hearing that are relevant
to the statutory standards in ORS 342.865 (1), are adequate to
justify the statutory grounds cited. In making such
determination, the panel shall consider all reasonable written
rules, policies and standards of performance adopted by the
school district board unless it finds that such rules, policies
and standards have been so inconsistently applied as to amount to
arbitrariness. The panel shall not reverse the dismissal or
nonextension if it finds the facts relied upon are true and
substantiated unless it determines, in light of all the evidence
and for reasons stated with specificity in its findings and
order, that the dismissal or nonextension was unreasonable,
arbitrary or clearly an excessive remedy.
(7)(a) Subject to subsection (6) of this section and paragraph
(b) of this subsection, if the Fair Dismissal Appeals Board panel
finds that the facts relied on to support the recommendation of
the district superintendent are untrue or unsubstantiated, or if
true and substantiated, are not adequate to justify the statutory
grounds cited as reason for the dismissal or nonextension, and so
notifies the contract teacher, the district superintendent, the
district school board and the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, the teacher shall be reinstated and the teacher
shall receive such back pay as ordered by the Fair Dismissal
Appeals Board panel for the period between the effective date of
the dismissal or nonextension and the date of the order
reinstating the teacher, or the date when the district actually
reinstates the teacher, whichever is later. However, nothing in
this section requires a school district to pay the teacher until
the reinstatement occurs if the district has other legal grounds
for not reinstating the teacher.
(b) So long as the right of the district board under subsection
(9) of this section and under ORS 183.480 and 183.500 to judicial
review of the action of the Fair Dismissal Appeals Board remains
unexpired, the district school board may withhold the reinstated
teacher from performance of teaching duties, unless otherwise
ordered by the court having jurisdiction of the appeal.
(c) Subject to ORS 342.850 (9), if the Fair Dismissal Appeals
Board panel determines that the procedures described in ORS
342.850 (2)(b)(A) to { - (D) - } { + (E) + } have not been
substantially complied with, the teacher may be reinstated with
back pay as provided in paragraph (a) of this subsection.
(8) Subject to subsection (6) of this section, if the Fair
Dismissal Appeals Board panel finds the facts relied on to
support the recommendation of the district superintendent true
and substantiated, and that those facts justify the statutory
grounds cited as reason for the dismissal or nonextension and so
notifies the contract teacher, the district superintendent, the
district school board and the Superintendent of Public
Instruction in writing, the dismissal or nonextension becomes
final on the date of the notice.
(9) An appeal from action of the Fair Dismissal Appeals Board
panel shall be taken in the manner provided in ORS 183.480.
(10)(a) If both the district board and the teacher or teacher's
representative agree, arbitration may be used as an alternative
to a hearing before a Fair Dismissal Appeals Board panel to
determine if the teacher's dismissal or nonextension of a
contract is in compliance with the standards of ORS 342.805 to
342.910. If the teacher or teacher's representative desires to
use the arbitration procedure, the request for arbitration shall
be included in the request for appeal that is filed with the
Superintendent of Public Instruction under this section. Within
10 days of the time the superintendent of the district is
notified of the teacher's intent to appeal the dismissal or
nonextension of a contract, the superintendent of the district
shall notify the teacher or teacher's representative and the
Superintendent of Public Instruction as to whether the district
has agreed to use the arbitration procedure. If the district
determines not to use the arbitration procedure, the hearing
procedure shall be continued under this section in the same
manner as if no request for arbitration had been made. If the
arbitration procedure is used, the teacher has no further rights
to a hearing before a Fair Dismissal Appeals Board panel.
(b) The procedures for selection of the arbitrator are those in
the applicable collective bargaining agreement. If there is no
provision or agreement or if the agreement does not contain a
procedure for selection, the parties shall request a list of five
arbitrators from the Employment Relations Board and shall choose
an arbitrator by alternative striking of names until one name is
left. The remaining person shall act as the arbitrator. The
Employment Relations Board shall compile a roster of qualified
arbitrators from which the lists are to be taken.
(c) In determining whether the district board's dismissal or
nonextension of the teacher should be sustained, the arbitrator
shall use the same reasons, rules and levels of evidence as are
required for the Fair Dismissal Appeals Board under ORS 342.805
to 342.910.
SECTION 7. { + This 2013 Act takes effect July 1, 2014. + }
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