120B.30 STATEWIDE TESTING AND REPORTING SYSTEM.
    Subdivision 1. Statewide testing. (a) The commissioner, with advice from experts with
appropriate technical qualifications and experience and stakeholders, consistent with subdivision
1a, shall include in the comprehensive assessment system, for each grade level to be tested,
state-constructed tests developed from and aligned with the state's required academic standards
under section 120B.021 and administered annually to all students in grades 3 through 8 and at
the high school level. A state-developed test in a subject other than writing, developed after the
2002-2003 school year, must include both machine-scoreable and constructed response questions.
The commissioner shall establish one or more months during which schools shall administer the
tests to students each school year. For students enrolled in grade 8 before the 2005-2006 school
year, only Minnesota basic skills tests in reading, mathematics, and writing shall fulfill students'
basic skills testing requirements for a passing state notation. The passing scores of basic skills
tests in reading and mathematics are the equivalent of 75 percent correct for students entering
grade 9 in 1997 and thereafter, as based on the first uniform test administration of February 1998.
    (b) For students enrolled in grade 8 in the 2005-2006 school year and later, only the
following options shall fulfill students' state graduation test requirements:
    (1) for reading and mathematics:
    (i) obtaining an achievement level equivalent to or greater than proficient as determined
through a standard setting process on the Minnesota comprehensive assessments in grade 10
for reading and grade 11 for mathematics or achieving a passing score as determined through
a standard setting process on the graduation-required assessment for diploma in grade 10 for
reading and grade 11 for mathematics or subsequent retests;
    (ii) achieving a passing score as determined through a standard setting process on the
state-identified language proficiency test in reading and the mathematics test for English language
learners or the graduation-required assessment for diploma equivalent of those assessments for
students designated as English language learners;
    (iii) achieving an individual passing score on the graduation-required assessment for diploma
as determined by appropriate state guidelines for students with an individual education plan or
504 plan;
    (iv) obtaining achievement level equivalent to or greater than proficient as determined
through a standard setting process on the state-identified alternate assessment or assessments in
grade 10 for reading and grade 11 for mathematics for students with an individual education
plan; or
    (v) achieving an individual passing score on the state-identified alternate assessment or
assessments as determined by appropriate state guidelines for students with an individual
education plan; and
    (2) for writing:
    (i) achieving a passing score on the graduation-required assessment for diploma;
    (ii) achieving a passing score as determined through a standard setting process on the
state-identified language proficiency test in writing for students designated as English language
learners;
    (iii) achieving an individual passing score on the graduation-required assessment for diploma
as determined by appropriate state guidelines for students with an individual education plan
or 504 plan; or
    (iv) achieving an individual passing score on the state-identified alternate assessment
or assessments as determined by appropriate state guidelines for students with an individual
education plan.
     (c) The 3rd through 8th grade and high school level test results shall be available to districts
for diagnostic purposes affecting student learning and district instruction and curriculum, and
for establishing educational accountability. The commissioner must disseminate to the public
the test results upon receiving those results.
     (d) State tests must be constructed and aligned with state academic standards. The testing
process and the order of administration shall be determined by the commissioner. The statewide
results shall be aggregated at the site and district level, consistent with subdivision 1a.
     (e) In addition to the testing and reporting requirements under this section, the commissioner
shall include the following components in the statewide public reporting system:
    (1) uniform statewide testing of all students in grades 3 through 8 and at the high school
level that provides appropriate, technically sound accommodations, alternate assessments, or
exemptions consistent with applicable federal law, only with parent or guardian approval, for
those very few students for whom the student's individual education plan team under sections
125A.05 and 125A.06 determines that the general statewide test is inappropriate for a student, or
for a limited English proficiency student under section 124D.59, subdivision 2;
    (2) educational indicators that can be aggregated and compared across school districts and
across time on a statewide basis, including average daily attendance, high school graduation rates,
and high school drop-out rates by age and grade level;
    (3) state results on the American College Test; and
    (4) state results from participation in the National Assessment of Educational Progress so
that the state can benchmark its performance against the nation and other states, and, where
possible, against other countries, and contribute to the national effort to monitor achievement.
    Subd. 1a. Statewide and local assessments; results. (a) The commissioner must develop
reading, mathematics, and science assessments aligned with state academic standards that districts
and sites must use to monitor student growth toward achieving those standards. The commissioner
must not develop statewide assessments for academic standards in social studies, health and
physical education, and the arts. The commissioner must require:
    (1) annual reading and mathematics assessments in grades 3 through 8 and at the high school
level for the 2005-2006 school year and later; and
    (2) annual science assessments in one grade in the grades 3 through 5 span, the grades 6
through 9 span, and a life sciences assessment in the grades 10 through 12 span for the 2007-2008
school year and later.
    (b) The commissioner must ensure that all statewide tests administered to elementary and
secondary students measure students' academic knowledge and skills and not students' values,
attitudes, and beliefs.
    (c) Reporting of assessment results must:
    (1) provide timely, useful, and understandable information on the performance of individual
students, schools, school districts, and the state;
    (2) include, by no later than the 2008-2009 school year, a value-added component that is in
addition to a measure for student achievement growth over time; and
    (3)(i) for students enrolled in grade 8 before the 2005-2006 school year, determine whether
students have met the state's basic skills requirements; and
    (ii) for students enrolled in grade 8 in the 2005-2006 school year and later, determine whether
students have met the state's academic standards.
    (d) Consistent with applicable federal law and subdivision 1, paragraph (d), clause (1),
the commissioner must include appropriate, technically sound accommodations or alternative
assessments for the very few students with disabilities for whom statewide assessments are
inappropriate and for students with limited English proficiency.
    (e) A school, school district, and charter school must administer statewide assessments under
this section, as the assessments become available, to evaluate student progress in achieving the
academic standards. If a state assessment is not available, a school, school district, and charter
school must determine locally if a student has met the required academic standards. A school,
school district, or charter school may use a student's performance on a statewide assessment as
one of multiple criteria to determine grade promotion or retention. A school, school district,
or charter school may use a high school student's performance on a statewide assessment as a
percentage of the student's final grade in a course, or place a student's assessment score on the
student's transcript.
    Subd. 2. Department of Education assistance. The Department of Education shall contract
for professional and technical services according to competitive bidding procedures under chapter
16C for purposes of this section.
    Subd. 3. Reporting. The commissioner shall report test data publicly and to stakeholders,
including the performance achievement levels developed from students' unweighted test scores
in each tested subject and a listing of demographic factors that strongly correlate with student
performance. The commissioner shall also report data that compares performance results among
school sites, school districts, Minnesota and other states, and Minnesota and other nations. The
commissioner shall disseminate to schools and school districts a more comprehensive report
containing testing information that meets local needs for evaluating instruction and curriculum.
    Subd. 4. Access to tests. The commissioner must adopt and publish a policy to provide public
and parental access for review of basic skills tests, Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, or
any other such statewide test and assessment. Upon receiving a written request, the commissioner
must make available to parents or guardians a copy of their student's actual responses to the
test questions to be reviewed by the parent.
History: 1997 c 138 s 1; 1998 c 386 art 2 s 38; 1998 c 397 art 4 s 2,51; art 11 s 3; 1998
c 398 art 5 s 8; 1999 c 241 art 9 s 3; 2000 c 489 art 6 s 2; 2000 c 500 s 15; 1Sp2001 c 6 art 2
s 4; 2003 c 129 art 1 s 7,8; 2003 c 130 s 12; 2004 c 294 art 6 s 2; 1Sp2005 c 5 art 2 s 21-23;
2007 c 146 art 2 s 9