§ 6-15-404 - Program implementation.
6-15-404. Program implementation.
(a) (1) The State Board of Education shall establish clear, specific, and challenging academic content standards which define what students shall know and be able to do in each content area.
(2) Instruction in all public schools shall be based on these academic content standards.
(b) The state board shall establish a schedule for periodic review and revision of academic content standards to ensure that Arkansas academic content standards are rigorous and equip students to compete in the global workforce.
(c) The state board shall include the following elements in the periodic review and revision of Arkansas academic content standards:
(1) External review by outside content standards experts;
(2) Review and input by higher education, workforce education, and community members;
(3) Study and consideration of academic content standards from across the nation and the international level as appropriate;
(4) Study and consideration of evaluation from national groups or organizations as appropriate;
(5) Revisions by committees of Arkansas teachers and instructional supervisor personnel from public schools, assisted by teachers from institutions of higher education; and
(6) Public dissemination of revised academic content standards at the state board meeting and Department of Education website.
(d) The state board shall establish a clear, concise system of reporting the academic performance of each school on the state-mandated augmented, criterion-referenced, or norm-referenced assessments that conforms with the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
(e) (1) The state board shall develop and the department shall implement a developmentally appropriate uniform school readiness screening to validate a child's school readiness as part of a comprehensive evaluation design.
(2) Beginning with the 2004-2005 school year, the department shall require that all school districts administer the uniform school readiness screening to each kindergarten student in the school district school system upon the student's entry into kindergarten.
(3) Children who enter public school for the first time in first grade must be administered the uniform school readiness screening developed for use in the first grade.
(f) (1) The department shall select a developmentally appropriate assessment to be administered to all students in first grade and second grade in reading and mathematics.
(2) Professional development activities shall be tied to the comprehensive school improvement plan and designed to increase student learning and achievement.
(3) Longitudinal and trend data collection shall be maintained for the purposes of improving student and school performance.
(4) A public school or public school district classified as in "school improvement" shall develop and file with the department a comprehensive school improvement plan designed to ensure that all students demonstrate proficiency on all portions of state-mandated augmented, criterion-referenced, or norm-referenced assessments. The comprehensive school improvement plan shall include strategies to address the achievement gap existing for any identifiable group or subgroup as identified in the Arkansas Comprehensive Testing, Assessment, and Accountability Program and the gap of that subgroup from the academic standard.
(g) The department shall develop and implement an augmented, criterion-referenced, or norm-referenced assessment program that is valid, reliable, externally linked to a national norm, and vertically scaled for public school students in grades three through eight (3-8), which measures application of knowledge and skills in reading and writing literacy and mathematics. Science, civics, and government shall be measured on a schedule as determined by the state board.
(h) (1) The State of Arkansas shall participate in the administration of the National Assessment of Educational Progress examinations.
(2) (A) Any student failing to achieve the established standard on the Arkansas Comprehensive Assessment Program examinations shall be evaluated by school personnel, who shall jointly develop with the student's parents an academic improvement plan to assist the student in achieving the expected standard in subject areas in which performance is deficient.
(B) The academic improvement plan shall describe the parent's role and responsibilities as well as the consequences for the student's failure to participate in the plan.
(i) (1) Each school shall develop one (1) comprehensive, long-range school improvement plan focused on student achievement which shall be reported to the public.
(2) (A) (i) Any school that fails to achieve expected levels of student performance on the Arkansas Comprehensive Assessment Program examinations and related indicators, as defined in this subchapter, shall participate in a school improvement plan accepted by the department.
(ii) This improvement plan shall assist those students performing below grade level in achieving the expected standard.
(B) Progress on improved achievement shall be included as part of the school's annual report and the school district's annual report to the public.
(j) (1) The department and the local school districts shall annually compile and disseminate to the public results of all required examinations.
(2) The results of the end-of-course testing shall become a part of each student's transcript or permanent record and shall be recorded on these documents in a manner prescribed by the state board.
(k) (1) Parents, students, families, educational institutions, and communities are collaborative partners in education, and each plays an important role in the success of individual students. Therefore, the State of Arkansas cannot be the guarantor of each individual student's success.
(2) The goals of Arkansas' grades kindergarten through twelve (K-12) educational system are not guarantees that each individual student will succeed or that each individual school will perform at the level indicated in the goals.