in-20250723-IR-511250370FNA: The Indiana State Board of Education (board) is soliciting public comment on adding rules at 511 IAC 6.2-12 concerning assessing school and school corporation academic performance and skill development. The board seeks comment on the affected citations listed and any other provisions of Title 511 that may be affected by this rulemaking.

Notice of First Public Comment Period LSA Document #25-370 Sec. 1. The definitions in this rule apply throughout this rule. Sec. 2. "9th grade on track" means the determination made for the grade 10 cohort as set forth in 511 IAC 6.2-12-43. Sec. 3. "Accountable year" means the school year being assessed. Sec. 4. "Accountability category" means the summative category, A-F, corresponding to an entity's final numeric rating used to demonstrate an assessed grade span, school, or school corporation's overall performance, as calculated under this framework. Sec. 5. "Advanced coursework" means high school credit earned in courses designated as approved Indiana diploma courses prior to a student entering high school. Sec. 6. "Alternate assessment" means the assessment instrument adopted under IC 20-32-5.1-11. Sec. 7. "Assessed grade span" means the following grades receiving a final numeric rating under the academic performance and skill development framework outlined in this rule: Sec. 8. "Attendance target" means an eligible student was counted as in attendance for ninety-four percent (94%) of the instructional days during which the student was enrolled in a school during the accountable year. Sec. 9. "Atypical school" means a school that lacks sufficient data points to calculate a final accountability category under this rule. Sec. 10. "Biology end of course assessment" means the statewide assessment adopted for grades 10 through 12 under IC 20-32-5.1-7(c)(1)(B). Sec. 11. "College and career readiness goal" means the goal established by the board for which a school receives full credit for college and career readiness. Sec. 12. "College and career coursework" means credits listed in 511 IAC 6-7.2-21(b)(1)(G). Sec. 13. "Credential of value" has the meaning set forth in 511 IAC 6-7.2-21(b)(2)(B)(i) and 511 IAC 6-7.2-21(b)(3)(A)(i). Sec. 14. "Cumulative aggregate" means adding the number of eligible students enrolled in a school or school corporation in the accountable year and in each school year immediately preceding the accountable year until the minimum eligible student count necessary for a school or school corporation to be placed in an accountability category is reached. Sec. 15. "Eligible student" means a student who: Sec. 16. "Eligible performance only student" means a student who: Sec. 17. "English/language arts" means the subject area required to be tested under IC 20-32-5-2(1) on the mandatory statewide annual assessment. Sec. 18. "Feeder school" means an elementary school having any combination of kindergarten, grade 1, or grade 2 only. Sec. 19. "Final numeric rating" means the score calculated for each assessed grade span, school, and school corporation, as set forth in this framework, which serves as the basis for the corresponding accountability category. Sec. 20. "Framework" means the calculations and overall structure to calculate an accountability category set forth in this rule. Sec. 21. "Grade" means data for a cohort of students who are at the same class level in the same school year. Sec. 22. "Grade 10 cohort" means the class of students that is expected to graduate within two years of the accountability year. Sec. 23. "Grade 12 cohort" means the class of students who were expected to and graduated in the school year immediately preceding the accountable year. Sec. 24. "Indiana diploma" refers to the requirements outlined in 511 IAC 6-7.2-20. Sec. 25. "Indiana diploma seal" refers to the requirements outlined in 511 IAC 6-7.2-21. Sec. 26. "Individual student growth target" refers to the student growth percentile target calculated under the academic progress indicator in Indiana's approved ESEA Plan as authorized by Section 1111(c)(4)(B)(i)(II) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act. Sec. 27. "Limited English proficiency student" has the meaning set forth in the definition provided in the Every Student Succeeds Act, 20 U.S.C. § 6301 (2015). Sec. 28. "Mandatory statewide annual assessment" or "mandatory assessment" means all assessments required under IC 20-32-5.1-7(c)(1)(A), and the alternate assessment adopted under IC 20-32-5.1-11. Sec. 29. "Participation rate" means the percentage of students enrolled in the tested grades at the time of test administrations who completed the mandatory statewide annual assessments and obtained a valid test result. Sec. 30. "PSAT assessment" means the preliminary SAT/national merit scholarship qualifying test (PSAT/NMSQT), which is a standardized assessment administered by College Board and co-sponsored by the national merit scholarship corporation (NMSC) in the United States. Sec. 31. "Pupil enrollment" has the meaning of "enrollment" set forth in IC 20-26-13-3. Sec. 32. "Receiving school" means an elementary school that has at least thirty (30) students who were: Sec. 33. "Science statewide assessment" means the statewide assessment adopted for grades 3 through 5 and grades 6 through 9 under IC 20-32-5.1-7(c)(1)(B). Sec. 34. "Social studies statewide assessment" means the statewide assessment adopted under IC 20-32-5.1-7(c)(2). Sec. 35. "Statewide literacy assessment" means the determinant evaluation of reading skills approved by the state board under IC 20-32-8.5-2. Sec. 36. "Student growth percentile" has the meaning set forth in the standard adopted by the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment in Betebenner, D. W. (2009). Norm- and criterion-referenced student growth. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice Winter 2009, Vol. 28, No. 4, pp. 42–51. Sec. 37. "Student success indicator" has the meaning set forth in 511 IAC 6.2-12-43. Sec. 38. "WIDA consortium ACCESS assessment" means the suite of summative English language proficiency assessments developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, administered to students who have a primary language other than English and limited English proficiency. Sec. 39. "Work-based learning" has the meaning set forth in 511 IAC 6-7.2-17. Sec. 40. (a) According to the framework set forth in this rule, the board shall annually place each school corporation, each school, and each assessed grade span in a school in an accountability category using letter grades A, B, C, D, and F, which correspond to the final numeric rating point ranges as set forth below. (b) The following scale shall be used to determine the accountability category placement: (c) Accountability category calculation for assessed grade spans: (d) A school or school corporation must have at least thirty (30) eligible students during an accountable year to be placed in an accountability category. If a school or school corporation has at least ten (10), but less than thirty (30), eligible students during an accountable year, its accountability category placement will be based on a cumulative aggregate. (e) If a school has: Sec. 41. (a) A feeder school's accountability category shall be based on the weighted average of the grade 3 final numeric rating determined under 511 IAC 6.2-12-44(b) for eligible students who were enrolled in the highest grade level served by the feeder school in the year immediately preceding the accountability year, for each receiving school. (b) If more than five (5) receiving schools are identified for the feeder school, only the five (5) schools with the highest census of feeder school eligible students will be counted in calculating the feeder school's final numeric rating and accordingly its accountability category. (c) If no eligible receiving schools exist for a feeder school during the accountability year, then the accountability category for the feeder school shall be "null." (d) Accountability categories shall be assigned in accordance with the following scale: Sec. 42. (a) The academic mastery metric will be calculated for each assessed grade span as follows: Sec. 43. (a) Each assessed grade span has a set of student success indicators used to calculate a final rating using the academic performance and skill development framework. (b) Student success indicators at each assessed grade span consist of the following: Sec. 44. (a) The academic performance and skill development framework shall be determined in accordance with the following: (b) For the accountable year, for eligible students enrolled in grade 3, the final numeric rating for the assessed grade span shall be the number determined under STEP TEN of the following formula: (c) For the Accountable Year, for eligible students enrolled in grades 4 through 8, the final numeric rating for the Assessed Grade Span shall be the number determined under STEP TEN of the following formula: (d) For the accountable year, for eligible performance only students without a valid student growth percentile in mathematics and/or English/language arts, including those who took the alternate assessment, enrolled in grades 4 through 8, the final numeric rating for the assessed grade span shall be the number determined under STEP TEN of the following formula: (e) For the accountable year, for eligible students in the grade 10 cohort the final rating for the assessed grade span shall be the number determined under STEP NINE of the following formula: (f) For an accountable year beginning with 2025-2026 through 2028-2029, for each graduate from the grade 12 cohort, with a valid aggregate score on the mandatory statewide annual assessment for high school, including the alternate assessment, the final rating for the assessed grade span shall be the number determined under STEP NINE of the following formula: (g) For an accountable year, beginning with school year 2029-2030, for each graduate from the grade 12 cohort, with a valid aggregate score on the mandatory statewide annual assessment for high school, including the alternate assessment, the final rating for the assessed grade span shall be the number determined under STEP NINE of the following formula: (h) When determining a final numeric rating under 511 IAC 6.2-12-44(f), a student in the grade 12 cohort will be determined to have completed three (3) or more student success indicators if the student attains one or more Indiana diploma seals. Sec. 45. A school or school corporation may petition for review of its accountability category placement based on objective factors the school or school corporation considers relevant because the annual assessment data do not accurately reflect school performance, growth, or multiple measures, as applicable. Objective factors include significant demographic changes in the student population, errors in data, or other significant issues including, but not limited to, errors in the application of this rule to determine an accountability category. Sec. 46. (a) For each atypical school, the department shall, without waiting for a request from the board, immediately provide to the board the following information for the grade levels served and available data: (b) Based on the findings of the department and any other information available to the board, the board shall determine the school's accountability category.