An Act concerning education reform and initiatives, and supplementing P.L.2012, c.26 (C.18A:6-117 et al.) and chapter 7C of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):

"PARCC assessments" means the assessments developed by the consortium of states known as the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.

"Student growth percentile" means a specific metric for measuring individual student progress on Statewide assessments by tracking how much a student's test scores have changed relative to other students Statewide with similar scores in previous years.

2. a. There is established the Education Reform Review Task Force. The purpose of the task force shall be to review the implementation and potential effects of the teacher evaluation system established pursuant to P.L.2012, c.26 (C.18A:6-117 et al.), the adoption of the common core state standards in English-language arts and mathematics, and the use of PARCC assessments.

b. The task force shall consist of the following nine members:

(1) the Commissioner of Education, or the commissioner's designee, who shall serve ex officio;

(2) six members appointed by the Governor, one upon the recommendation of the American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, one upon the recommendation of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, one upon the recommendation of the New Jersey Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, one upon the recommendation of the New Jersey Education Association, one upon the recommendation of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, and one upon the recommendation of the New Jersey School Boards Association; and

(3) two public members, one appointed by the Senate President and one appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly, who are the parents or guardians of students enrolled in a New Jersey public school.

c. Appointments to the task force shall be made within 30 days of the effective date of this act. Vacancies in the membership of the task force shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments were made. Members of the task force shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for necessary expenditures incurred in the performance of their duties as members of the task force within the limits of funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the task force for its purposes.

3. The task force shall organize as soon as practicable following the appointment of its member, but no later than 60 days after the appointment of the members. The task force shall choose one member of the task force to serve as the chairperson. The task force shall also appoint a secretary who need not be a member of the task force.

4. The Department of Education shall provide such stenographic, clerical, and other assistance, and such professional staff as the task force requires to carry out its work. The task force shall also be entitled to call to its assistance and avail itself of the services of the employees of any State, county, or municipal department, board, bureau, commission, or agency as it may require and as may be available for its purposes.

5. The task force shall evaluate the implementation and the potential effects of the teacher evaluation system developed pursuant to P.L.2012, c.26 (C.18A:6-117 et al.), the adoption of the common core state standards in English-language arts and mathematics, and the use of PARCC assessments. The evaluation shall include, but need not be limited to, the following:

a. the number of school districts that use each of the commercially-available teacher evaluation rubrics, the number using the model evaluation rubric established by the commissioner, and the number of districts using a different rubric that has been approved by the commissioner;

b. an analysis of the distribution of teachers' ratings across the four defined annual rating categories in the 2013-2014 school year, including a disaggregation by the evaluation rubric used by the district and school district characteristics;

c. a statistical analysis correlating teachers' evaluation under the rubric used by the school district in the 2013-2014 school year and the measures of student growth determined for the teachers in the same school year;

d. an estimate of the costs incurred by school districts during the implementation of the teacher evaluation system including, but not limited to, the cost of purchasing a commercially-available teacher evaluation rubric, professional development costs, and costs of hiring additional individuals to perform teacher observations;

e. a description of actions taken by the State to date to implement the common core state standards and a timeline of any subsequent actions to be taken;

f. a comparison of the common core state standards in English-language arts and mathematics to the core curriculum content standards in language arts literacy and mathematics that existed prior to the adoption of the common core state standards;

g. an estimate of the full cost for school districts to implement the common core state standards, including those costs already incurred by school districts and those to be incurred in the future;

h. an analysis of student performance on the State assessments prior to the 2012-2013 school year and in the 2012-2013 and subsequent school years; the analysis shall assess changes in the achievement gap between different racial and ethnic groups and different economic groups;

i. a review of school districts' current technological capacity in relation to the capacity recommended for the administration of PARCC assessments, and an estimate of costs that school districts will incur to achieve the technological capacity recommended for administering PARCC assessments;

j. an estimate of the difference in costs incurred by the State for the development, administration, and scoring of the current assessments and the PARCC assessments;

k. an estimate of the difference between the current State assessments and the PARCC assessments in the amount of time that students spend taking State-required standardized assessments; and

l. the feasibility of administering an alternative assessment aligned to the common core state standards.

6. The task force shall issue a final report to the Governor, and to the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), no later than one year after the task force organizes. Prior to issuing its final report, the task force shall hold at least four public hearings, with at least one public hearing in each of the northern, central, and southern regions of the State. The task force shall expire on the 30th day after the issuance of its final report.

7. Notwithstanding the provisions of P.L.2012, c.26 (C.18A:6-117 et al.) or any other section of law or regulation to the contrary, the annual summative evaluation rating of a teaching staff member for any school year shall not include any student growth percentile prior to the submission of the final report by the Education Reform Review Task Force pursuant to section 6 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), or two years after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), whichever occurs later.

8. During the two school years beginning after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), a school district shall have the option of administering the PARCC assessment online, using a pencil or paper format, or a combination of the two formats.

9. The Department of Education shall not use the PARCC assessment to satisfy the provisions of P.L.1979, c.241 (C.18A:7C-1 et seq.), or for any other student or school accountability purposes, unless required by federal law, prior to the submission of the final report by the Education Reform Review Task Force pursuant to section 6 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), or two years after the effective date of P.L., c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), whichever occurs later.

10. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill establishes the Education Reform Review Task Force to analyze the implementation and potential effects of the adoption of the common core state standards, the teacher evaluation system, and the use of assessments developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC assessments). The task force will have nine members, including the Commissioner of Education, or a designee, serving ex officio, and six members appointed by the Governor, including one member each upon the recommendation of the following organizations: the American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, the New Jersey Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the New Jersey Education Association, the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, and the New Jersey School Boards Association. The Senate President and the Speaker of the General Assembly would each appoint one public member who is the parent or guardian of students enrolled in a New Jersey public school. The bill requires the task force to issue a final report within one year of organizing.

The bill also stipulates that the student growth percentile (a measure of how much a student's test score has changed relative to other students who have a similar test score history) may not be used in a teaching staff member's summative evaluation until the task force submits its final report, or two years after the bill's effective date, whichever occurs later. Similarly, the bill also states that the assessments developed by the Partnership for Assessment of College and Career Readiness may not be used as the high school graduation requirement until the task force submits its final report, or two years after the bill's effective date, whichever occurs later. Under the bill, a school district would have the option of administering the PARCC assessment online, using a pencil and paper format, or a combination of the two, in the two school years following the bill's enactment.